Exodus of Stars
by keiranhalcyon2010
Summary: Aleksandr Kerensky has led the war weary Star League Defense Force on a two year long journey into exile. A chance decision leads to a long awaited discovery, and final proof that humanity is not alone in the cosmos.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Nadir Jump Point**

**Star System Designate Kilo-343**

**2032 Light Years Coreward of Terra**

**24 August 2785**

He was a relatively old man, not a hair on his head, which glinted in the overhead illumination. Worry and frown lines dotted his hale face and he wore an especially grim expression as he surveyed the main holotank which dominated the circular amphitheatre-like Command and Control centre buried deep within the one point four kilometer superstructure of the _SLS Mckenna's Pride_. He was walking a seemingly endless circuit of the CIC. Such was his stature and charisma that the relative bustle of the CIC and its officers and crew would quiet down, the men and women would subconsciously sit straighter then relax when he left. He rarely sat in his designated station with its variety of displays, not unless they were under acceleration or at combat stations.

A younger man approached, dressed in the beige and grey, utilitarian Star League Defense Force naval uniform with maroon edgings and sporting the rank of Captain displayed on his right shoulder. He was tapping idly on the computer gauntlet on his left arm, before coming to a stop in front of the old man and saluting.

"General Kerensky."

The old man in his rather sparse green uniform, which was only adorned with the necessary indicators of his rank, and showing that he was actually from the less lofty service branch of the Army, returned the salute.

"Captain Galford. How long until we can jump?"

Senior Captain James Galford's reply was crisp. "The Task Force will be ready in six hours, General."

"The mutineer's ships?"

"Secured and back under your command, General. Fleet Security has questioned the crews and it seems that the deserting officers were, with very few exceptions, men and women who had been forced to leave family behind in the Human Sphere."

General Aleksandr Kerensky inwardly winced at that, though didn't betray any of what he felt on his stoic face. He tried not to think of all the officers that he had ordered to be executed for their actions. They had had only the desire to return to their homes, and try to stop the nightmare that had engulfed the Star League. What they had failed to truly take to heart was that the League was no more. The League now only existed in the hearts and minds of the people on the Exodus Fleet. It was something that he thought everyone who had answered his call to leave the Human Sphere had understood. Those officers had let their hearts dictate their actions, not their minds and the reality around them. They would've only returned to fight outnumbered against the accursed Houses, or be forced to side with a House Lord whose social policies they could tolerate and participate in the five way conflict to become the First Lord of the Star League, or in other words, the reins of human destiny.

The desertion of the three Texas class Destroyers and two Jumpships was merely a symptom of a deeper problem that dominated Aleksandr's every waking thought. He had to give the Exodus Fleet and its people a tangible long term goal to strive towards, and in so doing head off any further attempts to split off from the Fleet. Thus far they had been somewhat aimlessly heading galactic northward, into the dense cluster of stars in that direction. His first aim had been to make as much distance as possible from the Sphere, initially taking a north east direction before looping back northward once they were fully in the unknown frontier. He wouldn't put it past the House Lords to send expeditions looking for the Fleet at some point after they got tired of bludgeoning each other for the throne in Unity City. In his mind, they were not far enough yet; perhaps another year of travel would be enough breathing room for the Star League before they could start the search for a new world to call home. There was a problem with that though; morale in the Fleet had been flagging to an all time low before the mutiny incident, fleet cohesion would not last another year.

"Why did it all come to this?"

Captain Galford frowned in confusion. "General?"

"I can see the past with the eyes of memory, I know what led us to this, Captain, but why should every human attempt to bring light and order to their universe eventually fail? It doesn't matter whether it is based on the Imperial, the Feudal, or the Democratic, it seems to eventually always come crashing down around our ears."

Galford shook his head. "Sir, that's something philosophers have been struggling with for millennia."

Aleksandr nodded in understanding his eyes once again looking into the simulated star within the holotank and the six planets surrounding it. There always seemed to be some form of catalyst for the fall of any empire. It would either be the ambition for power of its leader, a revolution when that leader fails to serve his people, or the trusted advisor turned traitor. He felt his fists clench at the mere thought of the latter.

He had met Stefan Amaris personally for the first time over thirty years ago and had heard of him by reputation before that. The Leader of the Rim World Republic, which had been the most powerful Periphery Star Nation in the north west of the Human Sphere, had been a charmer. His genial fair face just seemed to disarm you naturally. How could the fifty one year old newly promoted Commander-in-Chief of the SLDF Aleksandr Kerensky possibly suspect the poison that could flow from that mouth? The poison of paranoia and fear that the Usurper had whispered into the ears of the young and inexperienced First Lord of the Star League, Richard Cameron II.

Aleksandr had been the Regent and Protector of the Star League until Richard's majority and he had failed utterly. He had thought he was protecting the young First Lord from his enemies in the Periphery, but the worst enemy of all had already snaked its way into the Court. He was not normally one to entertain fantasy, but if he could somehow speak to his younger self, the first thing out of his mouth would be, "_Burn Amaris' brains out with your Laser sidearm. Send the Fleet to smash the Republic_."

His eyes narrowed as he came to a sudden decision. He had planned to make a speech to the entire Fleet when the Task Force returned, but now realized that the three weeks it would take would be too long. "Captain, keep our drives charging, but do not jump," he ordered flatly.

Galford's eyes widened in surprise, "Yes, sir.' and promptly repeated the order aloud for the entire CIC to hear, tapping it into his computer gauntlet as well. "General?"

"Contact the _Simon Bolivar _via HPG, instruct them to open a com circuit back to the Fleet. I want my words to reach every man, woman and child. Notify me when you've set it up, I'll be in my quarters."

"Yes, sir." Galford saluted and also added, "Attention on deck!" The entire CIC snapped to their feet as Kerensky left.

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Aleksandr entered the Flag Admiral's Quarters which had been his home ever since the Exodus began. He palmed the lights up and crossed to his desk, resolutely refusing to let the knee-to-ceiling displayscreen showing an optical feed of the starfield off the _Pride_'s starboard side, distract him until he finished composing the vague idea he'd had for a speech.

He'd barely switched on the terminal on the desk when a ship's steward appeared carrying a very precious mug of steaming coffee. Aleksandr didn't really approve of this luxury the crew was bestowing him. They'd left the Sphere with all the seedlings for crop growing plants taken from not only Terra, but a variety of worlds along the way, not to mention gene resequencers to help the plants adapt to any near-Terran environment they might settle on one day. The Fleet had enough supplies for three years in space with rationing, and they had the option to begin hydroponics if their journey lasted longer than that, but this coffee was grown and roasted on Terra, there'd never be more like it for them.

"Thank you, Grayson."

"You're welcome, sir." The steward vanished through the adjoining door that led to the decidedly smaller quarters reserved for him.

The instant the screen of the terminal flashed into life, he was assaulted with new messages from the various ship captains in the Fleet flashing for his attention. There was also a general ship status summary of the _Mckenna's Pride_, showing the near readiness of the Jump Drive, the LF Battery charge at one hundred percent, which would enable another thirty light year FTL jump to be completed within a half hour. With a few efficient keystrokes the messages were all relegated to be dealt with later and he brought up a word processor program. He paused in thought before typing the main ideas he'd had in rough bullet points. That was easy part, now he had to finesse them into a coherent speech.

He also realized that there would soon come a time when they had to get around to building a proper civilization. That was something that couldn't only rest on his shoulders. He honestly had no clue where to begin. '_One thing at a time, Aleksandr._' As he was writing his speech he sincerely wished that he was back in his old _Orion_ battlemech with a simple straight forward enemy in his sights. Now his enemy was human nature itself.

A chime from his terminal alerted him to an incoming communication. Gelford's voice intruded into his quarters. "_General, we have an HPG link established to the fleet. I've slaved the link to your terminal and you can use it at your leisure."_

"Thank you, Captain." Aleksandr saw the visual icon representing the HPG link appear on the screen, but ignored it for the moment. How does one conquer human nature? Surely there was a weapon he could use. He picked up his cup of coffee and stared thoughtfully into its depths before taking a sip. His right hand quickly tapped on the terminal, and just like that, his voice could be beamed across lightyears via the onboard Hyperpulse generator, aimed at the position of another ship, which would relay the signal via its own HPG to the next ship. In this manner, his voice crossed the one hundred and fifty light years to the six million men, women and children on board the one thousand three hundred and forty nine Jumpships with a further five thousand Dropships attached to them and the four hundred dedicated warships of the Fleet.

He coughed to clear his throat of the coffee. "People of the Exodus Fleet, of the Star League, this is General Kerensky. Return to the Inner Sphere is impossible for us. Our heritage and our convictions are different from those we left behind. The greed of the five Great Houses and the Council Lords is a disease that can only be burned away by the passing of decades, even centuries. And though the fighting may seem to slow, or even cease, it will erupt again as long as there are powerful men to covet one another's wealth. We shall live apart, conserving all the good of the Star League and ridding ourselves of the bad, so that when we return, and return we shall, our shining moral character will be as much our shield as our, Battleships, BattleMechs and fighters.

"Now we must, for the moment, look to ourselves and plan for the immediate future. Many have asked where we are going, and I have not answered. The simple fact is we must first ensure our security from the Great Houses, and sheer distance will be that shield. Therefore our first goal is to at least put another three thousand light years between us and in the Inner Sphere or slightly less than another year of travel time. Only then can we begin to search the stars we encounter there for a new home."

We will maintain military chain of command for the remainder of the journey, though I will call for a congress of ship captains in one month to discuss what we can do once we make planetfall on a suitable world. The civilization we establish must build on the good of the Star League and make it even better, to such a degree that our memories of the League will be overshadowed by the new society. I also ask every scientist and engineer in the Fleet to put away the old mindset in the use of our technology and come up with new, fresh, and even radical ideas. No more are we in the safe and secure cradles of planets and civilization. We are in the wild and raw unknown and we must be able to meet the challenges that await us."

I will now speak of one particular challenge, an enemy that we cannot face with Laser, Gauss, Particle Cannon or missile. It is this enemy that always seeks to undo what civilization has built. This enemy we see every morning when we look in the mirror - it is us. It is our greed for power and worse, our desire to keep it at all costs. It is human nature. We must therefore conquer our own nature, to do this we must use both our resolve and will, but also our science. Ever since the days of the Terran Alliance and Hegemony we have conquered genetic diseases and cancer through careful engineering of the human genome. Our lifespans barring injury and disease were extended to average just over a century. Since then the Cameron's have kept a strict moratorium on any further genetic engineering, as we would've ceased to _be_ human, but rather something both more and less. Humanity on the other hand can no longer afford to be stuck in the past, on that way lays only more ruination. We must move on in the most fundamental way possible."

I thank you for your faith in joining me on this exodus. Now we must move forward. Kerensky, out."

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'_This is your five minute warning…Jump in five minutes._'

Aleksandr was seated at his Flag Officer station in the CIC, strapped in securely and keeping an eye on all the feeds and readouts that surrounded him. The internal grav decks had stopped their rotation, meaning the entire _Mckenna's Pride_ was now in zero gee. The Hyperdrive cores of all the ships in Task Force were still registering in the green. All dropships were snugly secure in their collars on both warship and jumpship. The fighter and small craft bays were secure and locked down.

The Astrogator, a man with a Commander's insignia on his shoulder spoke from his nearby station. "Captain, the Task Force reports successful coordinate assignments across the board."

"Thank you, Commander, proceed," Galford nodded.

Aleksandr disliked FTL Jumps, though he couldn't think of anyone who enjoyed the feeling. He was extremely grateful though that he didn't suffer from TDS or Transition Disorientation Syndrome; involuntarily emptying out your stomach, a chronic feeling of vertigo or agoraphobia, and headaches were the most common debilitating symptoms that TDS victims suffer. A human was a being of four dimensions, length, width, height and time. An FTL Jump relatively briefly added a fifth dimension – colloquially called 'Hyperspace' to that, and not everyone reacted well.

'_One minute to Jump_.'

He recalled his old mech instructor at Sandhurst Military Academy, Captain Stadler, who had a rather nasty version of TDS. Every jump he would go into the equivalent of an epileptic fit. The hardass bastard hadn't let it stop him from being one of most travelled and seasoned Mechwarriors within the SLDF.

'_Ten seconds…five…four…three…two…ooooonnneeeeeeee!_'

The world around him was plunged into a perpetual dark, flashes of incomprehensible color and shapes. Sounds seemed to stretch into infinity. Just as quickly the world was back and Aleksandr saw the CIC stretch impossibly far, just as he himself felt as if he was pulled in every direction simultaneously. Like a baker flattening a piece of bread dough. Then with an abrupt snap reality resumed normal function to his senses and sound reached his ears normally.

He had to do a breathing and mental exercise to calm his protesting body, before turning to the Captain with a questioning look.

"All Task Force ships have arrived safely and are accounted for. Astrogator?"

"Astrosensors confirm. We are at Nadir point of System designate Lima-543."

Aleksandr frowned at hearing that. "Commander, I distinctly recall that the system before our intercept of the mutineers was Lima-599."

"Yes, sir. I determined that coming to this system would allow us to use our second jump to enter a system with an A-Class Star."

He smiled at the man knowingly. "Ah, eager to rejoin the fleet, are we Commander?" The use of the much more radiant star would allow the massive Solar Sails that interstellar vessels carried to gather more energy and would allow them to shave a day or two off the standard seven day Hyperspace core recharge time.

The Astrogator shifted uncomfortably. "Just doing my job, sir."

"Your wife is halfway through her second Trimester, Commander Anderson. We'll get there with time to spare."

"Lithium Fusion Batteries beginning discharge, General," Captain Gelford reported, the corners of his mouth twitching.

Fifteen minutes later, Drive engineers confirmed that the core was charged and the Task Force flung themselves into Hyperspace again. They emerged where they expected, at the Nadir jump point of a bright white A-class star. Maneuvering thrusters were fired to orient the ships with their bows facing it, and engineers on all the ships began the delicate process of unfurling the energy collecting sails. It was disgustingly easy to tear the sails so the process took half an hour. Thrusters came to life, keeping the ships stationary relative to the star and in the safe zone. Finally the grav decks were started up again and the moment centrifugal gravity returned, Aleksandr unhooked his straps and stood, stretching awkwardly and hearing his back click into place.

"Report to the Fleet that we are safely at station and recharging. I'm going to stretch my legs with a walk around the ship."

"Yes sir."

Aleksandr had hardly passed the main bulkhead leading out of CIC when a startled exclamation of alarm and amazement reverberated around the room. He whirled around and quickly found the source of noise. A young Lieutenant in the Astrogation Department was working furiously at his station and gesturing animatedly at his screen. Commander Anderson strode over with disapproval before also looking into the screens. The commotion spread throughout the Department as everyone apparently saw the same thing.

"Quiet down!" snapped Anderson and everyone obeyed instantly. "Jensen, do a diagnostic on the array." The rest of the CIC watched with interest and curiosity as Astrogation did their jobs. They knew better than to intrude or try to barge in on the computers and sensors of another Department, to find out what had lit such a fire under them.

Jensen nodded his head. "Astrosensor array diagnostic reports no errors and one hundred percent functional."

Anderson nodded still staring at the feeds. "Put it in the main holotank."

Aleksandr watched as the extrapolated form of the solar system they were hovering over began to appear. First was the large white star of Lima-543. Then a small terrestrial planet appeared in the first orbital band. It was only partially complete in the holotank, due to the fact that they could only see one side of the planet from their position. Two larger planets appeared in wider orbital bands and an asteroid belt. These planets were rather exotic colors indicating that it was unlikely they could support human life. Then a Jovian gas giant with a ring system appeared in the tank.

So far it was looking normal and there was no indication of what had caused the ruckus.

Then _it_ appeared. Aleksandr blinked for a moment, thinking that perhaps he needed to get his eyes checked, but nothing changed. Nature had not made this. It was small on the current scale of the holotank, but the data window next to it indicated it was forty four kilometers in length. Once again they could only see a part of it, but the computers made a fairly good extrapolation. The thing had two long 'arms' set apart from each other but which ran perfectly parallel. These arms curved at one end forming a vague circle before they finally merged. Inside this circle were two smaller metal circles that slowly and endlessly spun within each other. In the very centre of this something was emitting bright blue light.

That someone was pulling a hoax by playing with the computers did briefly occur to him before he dismissed it. Captain Gelford ran the Fleet's flagship tightly and while he was fair, he didn't brook nonsense from his crew. Aleksandr was back at his station by now so gave the order to clear that possibility up, however remote. "Confirm this with the rest of the Task Force, now!"

It took five minutes but he forgave them. History was being made, after all. "It's confirmed, General Kerensky. They're seeing the same thing. Something odd though."

Aleksandr grinned wryly, "Besides the fact that we're looking at the first sign of alien intelligence encountered by the human race."

"Uh, yes General," Gelford coughed his throat clear, "we're only registering that…construct…optically. It might as well not be there according to IR and its emitting no detectable radiation besides the photons that allows us to see it."

"Null Sig on something that large!" Aleksandr was chagrinned to find that his mouth gaping open stupidly, but quickly rectified that. The Null Signature System was used on SLDF Battlemechs which cloaked their heat output and electronic emission from detection. It did this with special heat baffles added onto the normal heat sinks. The downside was that it couldn't be constantly on as it interfered with heat dissipation and your mech would quickly overheat. Its use in space was possible, but just not practical on something the size of a battleship or jumpship, and even if it happened the ship would need to vent heat at some point, which would be like lighting a flare up in the night when you were trying to hide.

"It seems so."

"So is there anything else in the system, Commander Anderson?"

"Nothing that we can detect from this range optically."

"Sensors?"

The Senior Lieutenant in charge of passive and active sensors quickly reported. "Neutrino detector's got no active fusion plants present in the system, General. We could start radar sweeps, see if anything reflects back at us."

"The light and EM radiation of our jump arrival will reach them soon enough anyway, do it," Aleksandr nodded. "Have the Captain of our _Intruder _dropship meet me in my quarters. I also want preliminary reports from all relevant departments ready within the hour on that construct. Facts and conclusions, not fanciful theories. Also if that thing so much as twitches in our direction I want to know." The entire CIC was filled with low chatter as they sprang to work as he left.

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It was a rather nervous Captain of the _Intruder_ Class Dropship _Reliant_, who approached the doors which led to the Commander of the Fleet. Captain Theresa Livingston smoothed out her form fitting naval uniform and checked that her long red hair was tied to regulation. Unlike the male uniform it had a white stripe running down the right, and when not on ship her cap would be white as well.

She pressed on the chime keypad next to the door.

"Enter."

The doors hissed open and revealed General Kerensky standing behind his desk, framed by the large viewscreen behind him. It was showing the gigantic alien construct magnified in all its glory. Theresa was still somewhat in shock at the mere idea. Humanity had been travelling the stars nearly six centuries, and had not seen any evidence of alien intelligence amongst all the worlds it had set foot upon and terraformed. Admittedly the Human sphere only stretched five hundred light years out from Terra in every direction, a relative miniscule piece of the Galaxy. She shook herself out of her reverie and stood at attention. "Captain Livingston reporting as ordered."

"At ease, Captain," Kerensky clasped his hands behind his back, staring at the alien construct as its inner rings slowly moved, "I had been prepared for us to encounter many problems and potential disasters out here. This, I admit, had not even gotten on the list."

"It is somewhat outside of context, General," Theresa admitted. "The SLDF hasn't really had a chance for proper exploration beyond the Periphery."

Kerensky nodded. "Even when we had brought the Periphery into the League fold, we then had to keep the peace between feuding Houses, which was a rather full time occupation. Can you believe that I had to go back to the days of the Terran Alliance in the database to find the theoretical protocols for this?" She nodded. It made sense, the Kearny Fuchida Jump Drive had been in its infancy then and she was sure that there had been many bright eyed people on Terra looking up at the stars wondering if intelligent life was just a jump away. General Kerensky pulled an optical data cube from his pocket and handed it to her. "That holds all the specifics. You'll be joined by four people, the best we can find amongst the Task Force in the fields of physics, mathematics, biology and psychology. Once they're on board the _Reliant_, do a leisurely burn towards the construct. You're to keep your weapons offline and pointed away from it. On that data cube is a program that you'll broadcast to the construct as you approach."

Theresa felt her heart begin to race as the gravity of the situation hit home. "If there are…aliens, General…"

"Use your best judgment, Captain. That's all anyone can do. _No one_ is qualified for this. Study the protocols to your satisfaction, and launch when you are ready. We're not going anywhere for another five days, and depending on what you find we might be here longer."

Theresa swallowed heavily, steeled herself and saluted. "I'll do it, Sir."

"Excellent, dismissed."

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_A/N: No I don't own Mass Effect or Battletech. After a couple of requests I'm publishing this here as well, and not keeping it exclusive to SB._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Dropship **_**SLS Reliant**_

**Nadir Jump Point**

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**25 August 2785**

The sixty nine meter spheroid dropship slowly drifted away relative to its parent carrier. The _Reliant_'s Captain had given the order to undock from its collar, and it was slowly orienting itself for an in-system burn that would take it towards the alien construct. Theresa was strapped into the acceleration couch/commander's chair on the circular Bridge of her tiny ship, watching her crew do their pre-departure checklists with a gimlet eye. There would no screw-ups, slip ups or mistakes on this mission.

Her eyes drifted to the main holotank that showed a flat screen view of the slowly shrinking _McKenna's Pride_. Theresa always felt positively tiny, next to the _Pride_'s monolithic bulk but it was a comforting presence, like a warm fuzzy blanket or a mother's arms. God help anyone who messed with her.

"Check lists complete, Captain, all systems go," Commander Jimmy Haynes, the Reliant's XO, reported from his own couch. "Launch window in one minute."

"Thank you, Commander. Did you tuck in our guests nice and tight?"

Jimmy grinned toothily, "Yes, ma'am."

Theresa laughed but then pinched her nose in weariness. She'd been studying the old Alliance Extra-terrestrial Intelligence Contact (ETIC ) Protocols non-stop since she had been given them and she still had three quarters of it to go. It was just so much theory and waffle that she had decided to just get her ship underway and study the rest on the four day journey there. If that wasn't enough there were the four 'experts' she had been assigned.

A mathematician to figure out the alien number system, a physicist to figure out their science, a biologist to determine on what basis the alien's body ticked or any danger they posed on that level to a human, and finally a psychologist to get into their heads and determine their motivations. That was the theory. The practice was entirely different.

There were very few dependants in the Task Force, as the General wanted as few of them as possible in the line of fire. So they had been temporarily transferred to other ships in the main Fleet. The only civilians in Omega 101 at present were those that had been forced to go with the mutineering ships, and they had not been happy about it, especially when the bastards had gone so low as to use them as shields and hostages when the writing of their defeat had been on the wall. It had been a messy and bloody business freeing them. Their mathematician, Michal Mays, was currently minus a right arm. It had been lost when a Marine had used a Mauser pulse laser rifle to hit the mutineer holding Mays as a shield.

Mays had been patched up and was currently awaiting surgery for a replacement cybernetic arm, which would eventually be replaced with a biological one. The _Reliant_, as an Intruder class, had well appointed medical facilities and the _Reliant_'s Doc Ezekiel would even do the surgery en route, who was incidentally the assigned biology expert as well.

Their physicist on the other hand was…Theresa had no other words for it…an arrogant stuck up bitch who had one those condescending faces that you just wanted to slap, preferably punch. Lieutenant Jolene Mercer's parents had been Canopians, who had expected her to go into the family business. You only needed one look at Mercer's lithe, toned body to know what that business was; a pleasure circus. She on the other hand wanted to be a scientist, but of course, her parents would hear none of that. So she had taken the first dropship heading out of Canopus to enroll in the SLDF to pay her way to her Doctorate. This was what her personnel jacket said, anyway. What it didn't say was that in her opinion, if you didn't have at least a Degree in some sort of hard science, then you were not worth her time or attention at all. Theresa honestly didn't know how '_Doctor Mercer'_ had made it through the academy, let alone another ten years of service and research at the General Mechanics facility on Mars. The implication was there that she had done 'favors' for her superior officers, but something like that would've eventually come out…rumors like that were notorious, and it would take only one superior officer who didn't brook stuff that like for it all to come tumbling out of the closet.

Rounding off the ETIC Team was Doctor Randall Ingram. Theresa felt her heart go out to the poor man. He had bags under his eyes and looked positively haggard with an unshaven face and long scraggly hair. He was the only qualified psychologist currently in the Task Force and had been counseling civilians who had lost family members to the mutiny.

"We're in the window, Captain."

"Initiate."

The _Reliant_'s Movem XL Fusion Torch drive system whined into life before she felt her g-suit and accell couch inflating and cushioning as the engines went into maximum rated thrust of three gravities. The spheroid ship began streaking away from the Nadir point, riding on a long trail of plasma thrust. Theresa suddenly weighed the equivalent of a hundred and eighty six kilograms, and like everyone else on the _Reliant_, she wasn't enjoying it. Such was the life of a naval combat officer in the Star League though. Thankfully, they only had to endure a minute of this before they would throttle back to one gravity of acceleration, then life for the humans on the ship would be as Mother Nature intended, with gravity pulling you down at nine point nine eight meters per second.

She let out a deep sigh of relief as the elephant that had been sitting on her vanished, her couch maneuvered itself into a more conventional position, perpendicular to the floor and she unstrapped herself before undoing her g-suit with another sigh of relief. Around her the crew was doing the same and stowing the suits in their proper designated places in a compartment within the couch.

"All right people, we're underway, I want all of you to study your respective parts of the ETIC protocols, until you're reciting it in your sleep. Understood?"

A chorus of "Yes, Captain," answered her.

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**Flag Admiral's Quarters**

**SLS **_**McKenna's Pride**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**27 August 2785**

"Aaron, my friend, how are things in the Fleet?"

The face of General Aaron DeChavilier snorted on the screen. "In two words, incredulous and antsy."

Aleksandr frowned in confusion, "I can understand the former, but antsy?"

"They won't put it in an official request or report, but I can tell you that quite a few Captains and their crews want to see the construct with their own eyes. I even had one rather enthusiastic Captain who was about fifteen minutes away from jumping to you. I reprimanded him, but then he sent me a whole collection of classical science fiction literature, and suggested I pass it on to you. So that you, and I quote 'Knew the potential clusterfuck an alien contact could be.'"

Aleksandr chuckled. "Send it. It'll sure be a change from my usual bedtime reading."

Aaron tried to look casual but failed miserably. "So…have you guys got any new information on that monstrosity?"

He now laughed fully. "Admit it Aaron, you're just as eager to get your ass over here."

"Hence why Captain Wendenburg only got a reprimand, now don't keep me in suspense over here."

Aleksandr's smile faded, "I'm worried about whoever built this thing, Aaron. It's just been sitting there, no reaction to our presence at all. They either don't care about us or there's no one there and what we're looking at is a working artifact. Then there's the fact that it's Null Sig hasn't wavered one erg since our arrival."

"What? Where is all its heat going?"

Aleksandr shrugged. "Everyone is scratching their heads on that, we only have theories. The most frightening and likely explanation is that it's somehow either shunting the heat into Hyperspace and it's coming out somewhere else."

"Then that glowing blue orb…"

"No, that's not a continuous Hyperspace event," he shook his head, "our spectral analyzers read that as an energized solid mass of an element that our computers can't identify. We're not sure what its function is, current best guess, power source of some kind. We'll know more when _Reliant _arrives for a closer look."

"Damn, do you think we could try doing that Hyperspace heat trick? I mean, imagine if we just target any nearby planet with a warship's HPG and dump our waste heat through it…"

"It's a nice idea, but not something I'm going to try until I see a hundred successful experiments without…weird or catastrophic results. Hyperspace is not something to idly trifle with, my friend."

Aaron shuddered. "Indeed, Alek. Are you going to try to board it?"

"Only after exhausting other options at generating a response via radio."

"Well, good luck over there, Alek." Aaron sighed wistfully. "Anyway, how's Katyusha?"

"Worried as a mother should be and rather angry at me."

"You know you deserve it. Really Alek? Making Andrey pull the trigger on the Mauser at the executions?"

Aleksandr winced. "It was the only way for me to see if he had truly encouraged support for the mutiny. I looked into his eyes as he pulled the trigger."

"And given that I didn't see his name on the list of executed mutineers, I gather he passed your test."

"He did, and it makes me wonder who actually sent those messages from his terminal."

"So one of the mutineers either wanted to frame him to strike at you personally or someone else knew of the mutiny beforehand and saw it as an opportunity to discredit or even kill him."

Aleksandr slammed his fist down onto his desk in anger at the mere thought. "My friend, I truly appreciate your cunning mind, but there are times I don't like it."

"It's the most likely scenario, Alek. If it happens to be painful to hear, so be it. It's better than walking around ignorant that someone is trying to harm Andrey and might succeed the next time."

"Well does your mind have any idea as to the identity of this fiend?"

"Who has access to his terminal? If it was done by anyone remotely competent they haven't left any tracks in the ship's computer or in his quarters. Then the only choice is to get it from the horse's mouth, speak to Andrey or have Katyusha do it."

The thought of his wife questioning Andrey over this was unacceptable. Besides he knew what her answer would be to his request. Aleksandr wished he could spit on the grave of the Usurper again. It was that bastard Amaris who had taken his opportunity to raise Andrey away from him; he had been raised on the run and in hiding on Terra, during its occupation by Republic forces. Andrey had even fought the Usurper's troops as a member of a local resistance cell in Moscow when he was fifteen. Now he was nineteen and part of the Exodus Fleet, serving as a rookie soldier and training to be a Mechwarrior.

"Well, it seems I have a son I need to reconnect with, thanks for the talk, Aaron."

"It's what I'm here for, Alek. Try not to start a war with the little green men."

Aleksandr opened his mouth to retort, but Aaron cut the connection with a smirk before he could.

"Smart ass."

**SLS **_**Reliant**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**28 August 2785**

The _Reliant _finished her deceleration burn just under a light second from contact with the alien construct. They had already started broadcasting the designated 'Hello' that was in the ITEC protocol, suitably updated of course, at a light month out. It was essentially a machine language based program that sent math and pictures that any space-faring alien civilization should be able to figure out. So far there had been no response at all on any frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum. There was still a slim hope that it would happen once communication could occur in real-time.

Theresa looked to her Com officer, "Anything, Antoinette?"

"Non," the Senior Lieutenant shook her head, keeping a finger on the small earbud that allowed her to listen to void outside directly. "Not a peep. It's just sitting there, still in full Null Sig."

"Anything new we can spot from this close, Jimmy?"

The XO was staring into the screens of his station rather intently. "I think so."

The holotank flared to life and showed the construct but zoomed in to focus on the perpendicular arms. Set in deep grooves, were what distinctly looked like rows of 'windows' lit in odd on and off patterns. There were more lit transparent dots on the other end in similar grooves.

"So it's possible they're in there."

"Yes, just seemingly uninterested in us at all. I mean we've been knocking on the door rather loudly. Also, take a look at this…" The holotank zoomed out and bright yellow pixels blossomed all around the construct in a dense halo. "That is space dust and other particulates that have been pulled in by the gravitational attraction of the construct."

"So? It's rather big."

Jimmy shook his head. "There's too much of it given its apparent mass. Even if that thing is made of a super-dense heavy element, which would be extremely difficult to forge and work with, it doesn't explain the volume of particulate mass we're seeing. This means that its gravitational field is…well, it doesn't make sense…its extremely strong, too strong. In fact, we're getting slowly pulled towards it."

Theresa frowned in worry, "Okay, intercept course, one gravity of acceleration only. Keep knocking."

_Reliant_ orientated itself around with thrusters to aim its nose towards the construct, the drives flared to life again. Theresa felt gravity return, pushing her back into her seat, but her eyes were fixed on the real-time image of the construct, readying herself to snap out orders the instant it did anything other than sit there contently. After fifteen minutes of nothing, she relaxed slightly and sat back.

"We're on course, turnover in seventy five minutes," Jimmy reported.

888888888888888888888

**Firing Range 3**

**SLS **_**McKenna's Pride**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**28 August 2785**

Aleksandr entered the specially reinforced section meant to allow any Infantry division the _Pride_ was carrying to keep their skills up to par. He had chosen the Eleventh to accompany the Task Force, and they had done a good job thus far. Oh, he could've chosen a Royal Infantry division, like the forty fourth, but it was perhaps long past time to lose that 'Royal' appellation. There was no more Cameron Dynasty.

He couldn't hear the deep thump of the Gauss rifles, thanks to the active sound cancellation earplugs, but he feel the resonance in his lungs of each shot an infantryman fired. Then there was the odd soldier with a Mauser 960 Laser Rifle. There was no report from these weapons, in fact, the only way you could tell something was happening at all, was merely looking at the targets as large holes were melted in them. He walked past the standard firing range, and moved onto the simulation range. It was a large area that could project a hologram of any target the range master wished, and it would move realistically. You could only use a simulated Mauser rifle here and it would merely fire a pointing laser, which the computer would register.

He watched as a tall, well built young man in full green army battle dress and armor held one such Mauser and rushed between simulated cover, whilst firing his laser at faceless opponents. Aleksandr could tell immediately that the soldier was anticipating his opponents. In the heat of the moment, he was firing the laser as if he was still holding a kinetic weapon. A soldier had to develop two sets of marksmanship in the SLDF, even a Mechwarrior had to do it, if his Mech had a mix of energy and kinetic weapons. A slug had travel time, a laser or particle beam was instantaneous.

The Sergeant and the rest of the platoon watching the exercise was so far unaware of Aleksandr's presence, as the area was darkened, but he felt the stirrings of fatherly pride at the soldier's fluidity and clear experience on display. He had learned well in the Moscow resistance. Less than four minutes later it was over, and a ghostly holographic score of sixty two percent appeared.

"Damn it!" the soldier ripped off his helmet and nearly slammed the Mauser into the deck from frustration.

"Private Kerensky!" snapped the Sergeant as the lights came on and the holograms vanished. "That is the property of the SLDF. That is your weapon in this battlefield. Simulated or not. You will respect it! Is that understood?"

Aleksandr was gratified to see that Andrey immediately snapped to attention. "Sir, yes sir! I apologize!"

The Sergeant nodded in acceptance. "Fall in!" Andrey hurried to join the platoon standing in line formation. "Who here can tell me what, Private Kerensky's problem is with a Mauser?" A soldier raised his hand. "Corporal?"

"Private Kerensky is fighting his own instinct and experience, Sir."

The Sergeant finally noticed Aleksandr standing to one side. "Exactly, Corporal. Private Kerensky lived through the hell-hole of Republic conquered Terra. He had to fight with whatever was on hand. He did not have the luxury to pick and choose his weapon. Private Kerensky, what was your weapon?"

"An old caseless AK, Sergeant."

"You fought Amaris' dogs with that? Hell, Private, I think you just graduated a level in bad ass in my book but I'm afraid we have to cut our session short, today. Platoon, attention!"

Aleksandr took that as his cue and walked into the line of sight of the men. Salutes came without needing any prompting from the Sergeant, which he returned. He nodded to the Sergeant.

"Thank you, Sergeant. The Eleventh has performed superbly thus far and whatever befalls us here, I'm sure that will only continue."

The men and a few women gave a 'Hoo-aah' of approval at the sentiment. Aleksandr smiled, "Now, a father wants to talk to his son, get."

"You heard the General, Platoon, dismissed," bellowed the Sergeant.

It was barely a few moments later that he relatively alone on the simulation range with his son. Andrey was still standing at attention. Aleksandr sighed, as a father and son relationship, it was terribly new, he had after all only met the boy for the first time a few months after the Liberation of Terra, and then came the frenetic preparation for the Exodus. Then the constant struggle to keep the Fleet together. Aleksandr wondered if he could count the number of hours he had spent with his estranged son on his hands.

"At ease, Andrey." The nineteen year old relaxed his shoulders and clasped his hands behind his back. "How have you been?"

"I've been…doing well…father. Sergeant Takashima is a harsh but fair NCO. He's also somewhat more patient than he should be."

Aleksandr nodded. "He understands that unlike a raw recruit, you have to unlearn some behaviors and instincts. It's not just because of your family name."

Andrey shrugged. "I still think he cuts me too much slack. He might even be doing it sub-consciously."

He didn't think his son would appreciate any further help from him on the matter, so he changed subjects,"Have you found a Mech you can live with yet?"

Andrey's eyes lit with a bit of excitement, losing the cool edge that had been in them. "I think so. That _Altas II_ that Nicky likes is just too much of a slow poke for me. I, on the hand prefer the _Exterminator_."

Aleksandr felt his eyebrows shoot up at that little revelation. An _Exterminator _Battlemech was made for one purpose, killing the other enemy's commanders and destroying other command infrastructure, like mobile HQs and field bases. It did this by using an advanced Null Sig that would let it penetrate enemy lines undetected if the pilot did his job correctly. It probably also said something about his own experiences in Moscow.

"I've never asked you this, because it's…too painful to contemplate. How many…?"

Andrey suddenly got a look that had no right to be in a nineteen year old's eyes. "Nineteen, mostly NCOs, a few officers, even got a Captain that liked massacring a few civilians every day. He'd sit on top of the Republic HQ and use his modified Sniper Gauss. Pow, pow, pow. Only he got a bit too predictable. I took him out with an antique 30.06 hunting rifle from another rooftop, had to wait a whole day for that shot."

"I've always faced an enemy on the battlefield," Aleksandr sighed. "That kind of asymmetric guerilla warfare has never really been my cup of tea, though it has its uses."

A somewhat awkward silence settled on them. Aleksandr wanted nothing more than to say that he loved this person in front of him, but he couldn't. He was father, not dad. This young man was a stranger. He had to constantly push down stupid feelings of jealously when he saw the depths of Katyusha's relationship with Andrey. He vowed that he would do all in his power to change that.

"I just want to apologize to you."

Andrey seemed to shrink on himself and shook his head. "I was stupid and naïve, father."

Aleksandr raised an eyebrow at that. "You were not responsible, and I forced you…"

"Father," Andrey interrupted softly, "we're still relative strangers to one another. There was no way you could be certain about me in this aspect. I think the Exodus is the lesser of horrible choices. Of course it pains us to lose Terra, the Hegemony, to lose unity, but…the House Lords are probably at war with one another right now, fighting over the throne…we would've been caught in the middle surrounded on all sides, still exhausted from fighting Amaris and the Republic. We would've lost and Royal tech would have assuredly fallen into their hands."

"It…relieves me to hear you say that," Aleksandr took a deep breath. "I'll ask you this straight. Do you know who sent the seditious messages?"

Andrey closed his eyes. "I was stupid and naïve, father. Not anymore. All I'll answer is…my fingers did the sending, but I was tricked. You _don't_ want to know who did the tricking. No good will come from it."

He had to mightily resist the urge to snap. Andrey was nineteen. What judge could he be of the greater good? But he had to start the relationship somewhere. "I'll accept that. I'll trust you to fight your own battles, and to come to me when you know you can't handle it alone. Whoever manipulated you, they'll try again. You're my son, and it is my duty to protect you as well."

"And I'll remind you of these words father, when that day comes."

888888888888888888888888

**SLS **_**Reliant**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**28 August 2785**

The dropship now held station at five hundred kilometers from surface contact with the construct.

Theresa sighed, "Anything?"

Antoinette shook her head.

"This is getting really old."

"Seems like no one's home," Jimmy commented.

"They left the lights on then," she leant her arm on the edge of her chair, propping her head up with her fist. "Form follows function, so what is this thing's function?"

"Space station," suggested her weapon officer, Ren Juan.

"Usually you'd want a space station near a resource or planet," Theresa pointed out, "you'd also want to give your people a chance for shore leave. There's also the fact that we've yet to identify any hull access point. It's one solid piece as far as we can tell."

"So they _really_ don't want visitors, they're content in there…or they were trapped in there…prisoners?" Jimmy hypothesized.

"It's a bit big and elaborate for that," Theresa shrugged, "we have no real way to judge a truly alien society, on what they would and wouldn't do. The thing does an aesthetic that you can appreciate though."

"Hmmm. Now that I look at it, what about a gun?" Ren Juan suggested, gesturing her finger towards the holotank and then demonstrating with her hands. "There's a gap between the arms to load a projectile and pass it through a magnetic field between them. Then there's that glowing area, which might be the energy source, the rotating rings are the emitters for a containment field. It's a Rail Gun."

"If that's the case, it's the Mother of All Guns," Jimmy opinioned. "Though it'd be a bitch to load a slug like that, and it doesn't look like the people inside can do it. There's nothing like an ammo feed mechanism. You'd have to actually steer one in with an attached engine."

"I think we're also forgetting that unnatural gravitational field," Theresa pointed out. "Could it be using _gravity_ instead of electromagnetism?"

"True artificial gravity manipulation, Captain?" Ren Juan questioned incredulously. "That's like a sci-fi dream."

"We're dealing with _aliens_ here Ren," Theresa glared significantly at her Weps, making air quotes to emphasize her point. "That is or _was_ also a dream, I remind you. It could be some property of that unknown element between the rings."

"Wonder if that element is even found in nature? Or if it was synthesized," Jimmy mused.

"Well, our science has never discovered it, that we know of."

"It'd be so like the Hegemony to cover that up, if that was the case," Ren snorted.

"Hey, it might not have been that simple," Theresa shook her head. "Think about what true control of gravity would mean. If such a tech suppression happened, then the megacorps are just as likely to be culprits. It'd revolutionize aerospace and FTL, making quite a few systems obsolete; grav decks, long range drop ship engines, since now your jumpship can put itself directly orbit of a planet…no need for jump points anymore."

"Not to mention it makes mounting a defense extremely difficult if you enemy can just appear overhead with no warning," Jimmy pointed out. "Hey, to carry point further, if this thing is gigantic Rail gun…what's it's target? What was it meant to destroy?"

"Something this size?" Ren turned to her station making a few calculations. "Given a slug that can fit between the arms made of a nickel-iron, assuming we're talking about electromagnetics doing the pulling, this thing can conservatively render planets uninhabitable, or on the upper end of the scale, crack them into a mess of asteroids."

"Well, there's an asteroid belt in this system, and perhaps that was its weapon test."

"Build this monster just to take out one planet?" Ren shook her head. "It doesn't make sense. We're missing something."

"We're missing a lot of answers," Theresa shook her head, "and the only place we can get them is right there."

Jimmy looked apprehensive, "We're gonna board it, Captain? The fact that there are no access points are pretty much a 'stay out' sign if I ever saw one."

"I know," she nodded. "Even if we can't get in, we need samples of the hull, perhaps even see if we can't get some of that new element, there's must be some residue of it somewhere near the rings."

"If they're in there, I don't think they're going to appreciate us crawling all over their hull."

"We've given every opportunity for a response that's in the ITEC protocols. I think we're looking at an artifact."

"I hope you're right, Captain."

"So am I."

8888888888888888888888

**Alien Construct**

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**28 August 2785**

Theresa doubled checked her suit's systems on the gauntlet interface on her arm. The SLDF Armored Vacuum Suit was a bright white like the ancient pressure suits of the twentieth century. It was much more comfortable and easier to move around in, thanks to the fact that it didn't use air pressure to keep your body together, but rather the suit itself exerted that pressure. This allowed the life support and control systems to consist of a much smaller backpack, barely thirty centimeters in length. The rugged soles of the boots could be magnetized and in the event of a non-ferrous surface, the small maneuvering jets stippled all over would keep her from shooting herself off into space with a step. This would luckily not be as easy as it would be on a normal space station, due to that weird gravity field. The only thing she hated about the suits was the fact, that as a woman, she had to place a special clay under her breasts to stop that area of her body from rather unpleasantly deforming to fill the natural voids created by the suit.

She looked at the others who would join her in the spacewalk. Two were the rather ominous forms of men from the Blackhearts Special Ops division in their vacuum rated Nighthawk Power Armor. One with a Mauser 960 and the other with a Gauss Rifle. Then there was the Deputy of the _Reliant_'s Chief Engineer Kita Takuma, in his own bulkier conforming spacesuit with a larger backpack with compartments to store all a manner of vacuum rated tools. Then there was the ITEC team.

Jimmy's voice intruded into her helmet._ "Captain, I really think you should've stayed on board."_

"Captain's prerogative and the first rule of command, never order anyone to do something you haven't done yourself."

"_You think we're gonna be doing this again in the future, Captain?"_

"Call it a gut feeling, but yeah." She turned to her fellows. "All in the green?" They nodded, but she double checked Dr Ingram's suit just to be sure. She walked over to the controls and depressurized the airlock. Another push of a button and the thick exterior door opened to reveal the surface of the Alien construct looking like a flat metal horizon to their eyes. The size of the thing took on a whole new meaning when it was only a few meters away.

"All right boys and girls, our suit time is ticking, let's make the most of it."

Theresa stepped to the edge of the hatch and using a very light push from the upper edge of the airlock began a leisurely drift to the surface. Her heart was in her throat and she could hear her breathing resound within the helmet…and then her feet hit solid unyielding surface and her magnetized boots clamped down successfully.

"Jimmy, send a message to General Kerensky. We have set foot on the Alien Construct."

8888888888888888888888


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**CIC, SLS **_**McKenna's Pride**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**29 August 2785**

Every single officer and crew in the CIC was paying attention to the large holotank. The image inside was of Captain Livingston, sitting strapped down in her chair on the Bridge of the _Reliant_. It was clear to everyone that she was very tired, her red hair was a mess in its clumsy braid, and her face glinted with sweat.

"This is Captain Theresa Livingston of the _Reliant_. This message is being sent at 2300 hours. We have completed our first spacewalk on the alien construct. No contact with any alien intelligence. Our first conclusion was that they were inside, but still ignoring us, despite the fact that we were trampling all over their 'home'. Our survey found no access points through the hull. It is one solid piece and the 'windows' are a one-way transparent material that radiates white light from within, making it impossible to see in from outside the hull. At this point, I made a judgment call to try and force our way in. Let it note for the record, that the ETIC team disagreed with my decision."

It turned out to be a moot point. None of the tools Engineer Takuma had on hand could make even a chip in the hull or the transparent sections. Even a cutting laser had no effect besides briefly making the hull glow very weakly at the point of contact, the windows were similarly impervious. Our actions once again drew no response from the construct. We tried again at several more locations where we thought the hull might have been weaker, with the same result. As a final try, we modified one of our PPCs, lower beam intensity but firing nearly continuously until our all our heat sinks reached saturation. The construct just took it, thermal damage was just soaked up like a sponge, and any kinetic damage imparted was also ineffective."

Lieutenant Mercer estimates that the tensile strength of this hull is off any scale known. She believes though that a Heavy Naval PPC modified similarly should cause the electron states of the outermost layers of the hull to be raised beyond its threshold to absorb thermal and kinetic damage without harm. While it wouldn't give penetration as the hull is too thick, it should break off visible samples that can be collected for analysis. On a more positive note, we were able to collect sample residue of the unknown element by shooting a timed probe through the rotating rings. Its systems were completely fried in the process but its sample scoops were filled with the element."

Be advised that the construct has an unnaturally high gravitational profile. We are sending all data related to this in the transmission. It reaches out to a light second around the construct and our only conclusion is that this new element is somehow responsible.

As of this moment, there has still been no reaction from the construct. We'll continue our efforts at contact and a complete survey.

_Reliant_, signing off."

The holotank blinked off only to be replaced by the now familiar diagram of Omega 101. Aleksandr sat in his chair with fingers tented underneath his chin in contemplation of Captain Livingston's report. "Distribute _Reliant_'s data among all departments in the Task Force. Heck, fire up the HPG and send it to the Fleet as well. I want every mind with a modicum of scientific knowledge looking at it and coming up with solid ideas."

Captain Gelford immediately replied, "Yes General."

He next weighed the options, looking at the both Drive core and LF Battery status readouts of the _Pride _and the Task Force. "Captain, all Jumpships are to remain here. Plot a course for the rest of the Task Force to intercept the construct."

"Understood, General…"

8888888888888888888888888

**SLS **_**Reliant**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**30 August 2785**

She awoke with a start in her small cabin, her limbs flailing against the tight bedding that kept her from floating off. Theresa was rather busy dealing with a vague dream she'd had. It was already slipping from her conscious mind, and was like trying to grasp smoke, but it left her feeling an odd anticipation. She shook the feeling off and unzipped the inside of the sleeping bag and floated out, expertly using the handrails dotted about strategically. She hooked her feet to the floor in front of her closet and opened the various compartments that contained each piece of her day uniform.

Holding the combined articles of clothing in her left hand she hooked everything next to the closet, and with everything ready, floated to one corner of the room to do one her least favorite chores in zero g. Though there was a shower head above her, they were disabled, and she would have to carefully clean herself with a small hand towel. She had to release small globules of water into the towel, apply soap and get to work.

She was halfway through drying herself off when her cabin was invaded with the sound of the general quarter's alarm, followed by her XO's voice. "All hands to action stations. All hands to action stations. Condition two. Captain to the Bridge."

"Shit," she cussed, tossing her towel and getting dressed as quickly as she could, ignoring the fact that her hair was still damp and wet patches would surely show on her uniform.

The main corridors outside were in a coordinated well drilled chaos as crew floated this way and that to get to their stations. All of them going as fast as was safe whilst keeping a hand on the rails at all times. Accidents in this sort of situation were all too easy. Theresa recalled in her days as a Cadet that she had once given herself a concussion when she had built up too much speed, missed a handrail grip and careened headfirst into a bulkhead.

The main doors to the Bridge parted before her, to reveal her officers all rather agitated and excited at their stations.

"It's a hundred fifty four meters long…"

"Where did it come from…"

"Review the optical sensors…"

"How the hell…"

"Captain," Jimmy said loudly and the crew instantly quieted down. "We've an unidentified ship that appeared out of nowhere. Currently three thousand k distant."

She pulled herself into her chair and after securing herself demanded, "Visual."

The ship that appeared in the holotank was essentially an aerodyne design, but no human mind had designed the external aesthetic of this ship. It was an eyesore; diagonal lines mixed with blocks, and what looked like spiky fins that radiated outwards like it was some sort of fish out of a nightmare. There were no 'windows' evident on the ship. It also had clearly realized they were there, as it maneuvered on its axis to bring what she assumed was their bow to bear on the _Reliant_.

Jimmy reported, "We're getting pinged by active radar and ladar."

"Keep ECM off, let them look."

"Yes Captain."

"Send our ETIC package, let's hope it works."

Antoinette tapped in the well worn keys on her board to broadcast the message, "ETIC transmitting."

"Captain, should we not advise General Kerensky," Ren Juan pointed out.

"The aliens will see him coming soon enough, as will the General. No need for us to point a finger in his direction, just in case."

"Alien radar and ladar has cut off. Hopefully that means they've got the package."

Theresa pushed the shipwide intercom button on her armrest, "ETIC team to report to the Bridge. Lieutenant Ren, what can you tell me about that ship and what armaments that thing has?"

"They're most definitely not the builders of the construct; their hull is like wet paper in comparison. Scanners indicate it's made of blended layers of ceramics and metallic alloys. I'd rate it at BAR seven maybe a low eight." She next manipulated the holoimage of the alien ship and highlighted a prominent raised area on its bow, which swept back all the way to the rear of the ship. "I'd bet a week's pay that this ship has a spinal weapon of some kind, based on heat emissions, probably a small mass driver. Judging by the passive IR scans, it's got arrays of what we'd call Small Lasers stippled in all its firing arcs, probably a Laser AMS system. It's fully powered up. Their ship is using a low yield fusion based on Magscans and the Neutrino detector. That's all I can tell at present. There are a few other systems radiating heat that I can't make heads or tails of."

Theresa nodded in understanding, watching as the ETIC team floated onto the Bridge. "Lieutenant Mercer, take a look at our readings of the alien ship. I'd like your opinions ASAP."

"Yes Captain."

Silence fell on the Bridge. The only noise coming from the keytaps as each officer did their jobs. A low argument soon ensued between Ren and Mercer. The scientific jargon in use was enough to ensure that it flew over most of the crew's heads. Theresa could only surmise that they were arguing over their respective ideas for what the ship used as its motive propulsion. Ten rather nerve-wracking minutes later…

"Captain, I'm getting a transmission from the aliens!" Antoinette announced excitedly. "VHF and its basic digital data…a series of images I think, I'm having the computer work on resolving the format."

"How long?"

"I'd estimate half an hour, might be sooner."

"Captain, I think we know where ship came from," Mercer declared. Another screen blossomed in the holotank. It showed a feed of the alien construct with space as a backdrop. It was a very narrow angle but suddenly a blue shimmer of light appeared at one end of it, encompassing it like a second skin, which then zoomed across the entire length of it before vanishing. "This event occurred at the exact moment the alien ship appeared on radar."

Theresa nodded. "So the two events are connected. You're suggesting the construct is an FTL device of sorts."

"Exactly," Mercer manipulated the holo to focus on the alien ship. "Obviously this ship has nothing we would identify as a Hyperdrive, the shape is all wrong to house a Drive core. Therefore they must have used the construct, which I think we can now pretty confidently call a Hyper Gate or Catapult."

"That's assuming it even uses hyperspace at all," Ren pointed out with irritation. "Given the fact we're dealing with a completely unknown alien technology not to mention a new element, we can't assume that that thing even touches on Kearny-Fuchida principles. But we can say for certain Captain, that the alien ship is not the builders of the construct, even though we detect the same unknown element in use on it."

"You're referring to the hull composition?"

"Yes Captain, if I could build anything using that hull material the construct is composed of I'd armor my ships with it. Not to mention the Infinite Null Sig technology yet the alien ship is clearly radiating heat."

"So the aliens are either merely using what yet another more powerful race have built, or they've technologically regressed for some reason."

"Captain! I've got the images resolved," Antoinette announced excitedly.

The holotank was suddenly filled with a mess of pictures, graphics and what looked like writing. "That's my cue," Michal Mays winced as he flexed his cybernetic arm. He floated over to the holotank itself and began working on the local controls.

The first image came as a deep shock to everyone, as the reality of true alien intelligence hit them. It was a picture of the aliens. It was both familiar and yet skewed. They had two legs and two arms, they walked upright, and they stood at relatively the same height as a human. They had two clear sexes, the females had human-like mammary glands on the chest, and the male's broad shoulders with what probably were an external reproductive organ between their legs, but then the differences became apparent. They only had three widely spaced digits on their hands, one of which was opposable and their legs were reverse jointed. The picture showed them clad in stylized environmental suits.

"Ah, that's not fair," Antoinette complained. "We sent them 'natural' pictures of ourselves. Now they think we walk about without clothes! The least they can do is reciprocate." The rather serious air that had pervaded the Bridge was suddenly broken by giggles and snorts of suppressed laughter.

"Doc Ezekiel," Theresa coughed and didn't bother trying to hide her smile.

"On it."

Pretty soon the entire ETIC team was gathered around the holotank, each with a separate screen in front of them, trying to make sense of what the aliens had sent.

Theresa watched them work, "What are the chances we can figure this out by the time General Kerensky arrives?"

"Actually rather high, Captain," Antoinette reported. "Their first contact package is remarkably intuitive. They've clearly done this before. Right now I'm learning their basic language phonology and some vocab. It's like I'm back in Pre-school, they have images and video, which they associate a written word with as well as a spoken audio sample." To demonstrate she tapped on her main keyboard and a rather musical yet alien tongue resounded through the Bridge. "That's their word for spaceship. I'm adapting the active translation programs we have on file so we'll eventually be able to send simple plain text messages back and forth. Vocal communication will take a lot more time but we could eventually use our Com Gauntlets for limited real-time spoken communication."

"Good work, Lieutenant, I want you to send the following message to the aliens as soon as you are able, 'We are human. We greet you in peace.'"

"Short and sweet," Antoinette nodded. "They won't have the word 'human'. Hopefully they'll understand it in context, if they've made heads or tails of our own contact package."

It took another half an hour of non-stop reference work with the visual alien dictionary, but the message was translated and sent.

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**SLS **_**Mckenna's Pride**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**1 September 2785**

With the ship under acceleration the entire crew could now enjoy standard gravity, and Aleksandr decided that a walkabout was in order to take the pulse of his flagship, to look his people in the eye. Most were busy with their duties of course, and they could only spare a brief time to speak to him. He had to know this due to properly chart the course they would take, to steer them all safely to a place where they could rest and rebuild. The news from the _Reliant_ did nothing to make this easier.

They had made successful contact with the aliens and thankfully all those horrific First Contact scenarios he had read about in the speculative literature had not come to fruition. In fact, the aliens were proving to be a rather talkative lot, if somewhat wary as was normal when meeting a stranger.

"Father."

He stopped and saw his eldest standing framed in a nearby doorway, a Mech Simulator Room. Twenty one year old Nicholas Kerensky was dressed in the Mechwarrior's cooling jumpsuit in camouflage colors, his hair spiky short hair depressed somewhat from wearing a neurohelmet. His face was a natural blending of both mother and father, though tended to mostly resemble Aleksandr.

"Nicky," Aleksandr grinned. "Still whiling away the hours in the sim pods?"

"It's not as if there's anything else to do," Nicholas grumbled. "I'm tempted to ask you for a dropship so we can do some actual piloting on those planets."

"If we're here longer I might just grant that, I'm also getting that itch," Aleksandr laughed, patting his belly. "Three square meals a day and all this lounging around on starships with variable gravity is not something an Army man is used to for such a long stretch."

"Truly," Nicky grinned wryly. "May I join you on your walk?"

"Certainly."

The door hissed shut by itself as Nicholas fell in step with his old man. "So how are things with the aliens? We managed to talk to them yet?"

"Indeed. No in person contact as yet, but the _Reliant_'s managed to achieve real-time visual contact over radio, and they're trading text messages and data."

"And?"

"The call themselves 'Quarian.'"

Nicholas tried the word for himself, "Quarian."

"Yes, and so far they're eerily looking like a mirror of ourselves in some respects, humanoid although they only have three fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot, legs bowed back significantly in comparison. In similarity, they have endoskeletons, lips, teeth, two eyes with tear ducts, have two sexes, male and female."

"Hmmm, I always thought aliens would be _more_ exotic and weird than that," Nicholas frowned.

"Well, according to the Quarians there are, but they're not saying much more than that."

"So there are yet more aliens? Not just the Quarians."

"Oh yes," Aleksandr nodded. "There are quite a few alien races that use the _Mass Relays_, that's what that massive monstrosity is called and it's one of a whole network of the damn things sprinkled in star clusters across the galaxy, allowing for instantaneous travel between any two for nearly any sort of ship. You could get in a small shuttle and shoot yourself to the edge of Galaxy if you knew a proper course of Relays to use."

"Unreal," Nicholas breathed in amazement.

"Oh it's very real, Nicky," Aleskandr shook his head. "Anyway, the Quarians are what we would call nomadic and they live on a Fleet of nearly fifty thousand starships of various types and sizes that wanders the stars."

"Why?" Nicholas asked in bafflement.

"They built low grade intelligent machines for various simple tasks, and then as they pushed them into more and more complex roles, the networked machines became more intelligent. Until one day a machine began asking its overseer questions about the nature of its existence."

Nicholas winced, "That couldn't have ended well."

"It didn't. You either build an AI properly as we did with the Caspar drones or you don't, having one evolve accidentally scared them and they tried to shut all the machines down. The machines didn't want that and the result was a war with billions dead and they lost their homeworld to the new race of sentient machines calling themselves the 'Geth'."

This didn't sit well with the galactic community as there are apparently common laws which ban the development of Artificial Intelligence. So they were booted out of the alien coalition and given no help to find a new world to settle on as punishment. Making it even worse was that they have a sort of unique physiology that doesn't allow them to survive naturally everywhere, that's why they're all near permanently dressed in a conforming enviro-suit. So they can't even just settle on a new suitable world, even if one was found, they'd have to remain in the suits."

Nicholas digested that for a while. "Why don't they just build space habitats, large O'Neill Cylinders, Torus' and so on? Customize the environment so they're able to walk around without the suits."

"If we'd lost to Amaris and had to flee with the shame of defeat on our shoulders…" Aleksandr looked at his son significantly.

Nicholas nodded in understanding, "Exile was our _choice_. They didn't have that luxury. I would imagine that they _really_ want their homeworld back and putting in the effort and resources to build artificial habitats that large finally means giving up."

"There would also be children born who couldn't imagine wanting to leave such habitats," Aleksandr continued the logic. "The habitats would be their _homes_. They would eventually lose the resolve to retake their homeworld through the generations."

"That is something we ourselves must guard against as well, father."

"I agree in principle, but we can't truly choose for our descendants now can we? Even should we mould our children through education and culture, to one day return and restore the League, those who come after us will distort our words with their own human fallacies."

"I suppose," Nicholas sighed, though his eyes gained a determination in them. "What of the chances that we will have to one day fight one of these alien races?"

"As I said, the Quarians have yet to share all their data or opinions on the other species, which will come when they get to know us better I suppose. Although given how humanity and its various cultures couldn't keep its act together, when we're talking about entirely different intelligent species, the chances are very good that we'll have to face some of them one day on the field of battle."

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**SLS **_**Reliant**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**3rd September 2785**

"Here we are again."

Theresa smiled at the ETIC team as they all stood in armored vacsuits within the airlock. The outer door was open and one hundred meters beyond that was the hull of the Quarian Scout frigate _Upanni_ keeping a parallel course to the _Reliant_. Both vessels were now steadily cruising away from the Mass Relay, as the Quarian Captain had advised that their delicate First Contact could be interrupted by a ship passing through the Relay. A ship which might not be friendly at all, as apparently piracy was alive and well in the galaxy at large. Theresa also suspected that the Captain didn't want one of the other races horning in on this event. The Quarian ship's engine burn had also given them their first hard data on its type and performance.

Theresa was somewhat wary of flying this close to a ship that used controlled anti-matter annihilation for propulsion. A single kinetic hit or PPC blast into your engines and your entire ship was potentially vaporized. According to Mercer the Terran Alliance had had the ability to produce anti-matter in rather reasonable quantities, but it rather quickly died on the vine as a method of space propulsion when its perils and hazards became apparent, never mind the potential for creating tiny, nearly undetectable WMDs.

She shook off her doubts and pulled off the EM Grappling Gun from its mount to and hefted the rather bulky apparatus in low two handed grip. She made sure the line was free to extend and wouldn't get caught on anybody before switching on the targeting camera. It a few moments to find the starboard side airlock of the Upanni, then aiming at the hull just above it, she pulled the trigger. The magnetic clamp and high torsion cable was accelerated with same superconducting EM coils found in a Gauss rifle, except at a much lower power setting. The clamp cross the distance in less than five seconds before it attached itself to the Quarian hull.

When the Gun's small status screen showed a hard lock, she returned it into its place, and attached the cable to an overhead runner. She next attached her suit's own tether and a small motorized handle which would accelerate her across. The ETIC team had mirrored her movements and they all nodded their readiness.

Theresa thumbed the small switch and tightened her grip as she was slowly pulled out into the void along the cable.

"Oh, why couldn't the docking hatch have been compatible?" Doc Ezekiel moaned as he emerged and was rewarded with the awesomely huge view of space all around them. Theresa had to fight down the urge to laugh. How in the Galaxy could a Navy Doc have a mild phobia for spacewalking?

Soon enough she was using her motorized handle to slow down and came to a relative stop within arm's reach of the _Upanni_. She extended her tether for more slack, which allowed her to push herself into the airlock. When the others had joined her they unhooked the tethers from the line, at which point the outer door closed.

Theresa grinned at the others with excitement, "One small step for…uh…me, a giant leap for humanity."

"We'll be sure to immortalize your words," Mercer commented dryly.

It was at this point that they were all attracted to the floor at a comfortable one gravity.

"We're not under acceleration are we?" Mays asked matter-of-factly.

"No, this deck layout is all wrong to take advantage of it in any case," Mercer said with satisfaction on her face. "Artificial Gravity."

Their CGs and the eventual hissing sound that reached their vacsuit's pickups showed that the airlock was being pressurized. "All right everyone, game faces."

The inner door split open in four pieces and revealed a narrow corridor piled on the sides with containers of various sizes. The light level was somewhat low by human standards but it didn't stop Theresa from seeing the four Quarians arrayed in a line, one of whom was clearly armed with a rifle. That didn't matter so much, as she had a Mauser 960 attached to her back. It was but a concession to paranoia from both sides which they had agreed upon beforehand.

"Permission to board, Captain Lea'Foris vas Aktannay." A moment later her suits' speaker relayed the sentence in Quarian.

The female Quarian in an elegantly patterned purple enviro-suit stepped forward, "Granted, Captain Theresa Livingston vas Reliant."

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	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Quarian Scout Frigate **_**Upanni**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**3rd September 2785**

She had imagined many duties to fall upon her as a Captain. She commanded the fates of the thirty strong crew under her to whom she was as close as family, though military discipline was maintained on duty of course. She was the Migrant Fleet's eyes and ears, warning of any threats to the fifty thousand strong flotilla. She scouted and explored systems off the beaten path as best as she could within the constraints of Mass Effect FTL, always trying to find that elusive star around which could perhaps be the salvation of Quarian people in terms of resources and perhaps even a planet that could be colonized. The latter was a personal, unofficial goal.

Lea'Foris vas Aktannay was part of a slowly growing faction that wished for her race to slam the bulkhead on the fact that they had lost the homeworld to the Geth. Retaking their ancient home beyond the Perseus Veil against a synthetic race that had the logistical and technological advantages inherent of such a state of being was simply impossible at the current time. At least until they could find a world to call their own and lift the population controls, as well as the resources of a virgin system behind them.

That was why she always pushed her ship that extra light year beyond the safe limit, to find that promised star in the unknown, to find the system that could serve as an unmapped route that no other race or even the Council races could follow them through. That it would perhaps lead to First Contact with an entirely new race on the Galactic stage was considered remote at best. That it would happen as the _Upanni_ transited through a Primary Mass Relay in a Cluster that was considered a crossroads between Citadel space and the unaligned Terminus Systems hadn't even entered into her imagination. Not to mention that all exploration attempts of the Crossroad Star Cluster was like running into walls. Pick the closest stars to reach for and telescopes would soon show that there were no suitable Drive discharge sites, or at least none which wouldn't stretch ship supplies to the breaking point as the core took weeks to discharge in the pathetic magnetic fields around tiny planetoids and moons.

Their strange spherical ship had at first not even been noticed. It was only when her sensor technician had reported an anomaly in the routine ladar imaging of the Mass Relay that they had spotted the…_humans_. Their ship was practically landed on it. Sheer reflex had ordered the GARDIAN Laser system turned on and the mass accelerator powered up. There were all a manner of strange assortment ships in use in the Terminus by pirates after all. It wasn't until their Contact Package was received and the results of their scans were interpreted that the crew of the _Upanni _began to realize the enormity of the event which fate had saw fit to deposit on their shoulders.

Each race had had their respective First Contacts with the ranks of Mass Effect capable species and the Citadel Council, but they had all been known to each other beforehand and were able to help the new member acclimate and inform them on what to expect, so as to not cause diplomatic and cultural misunderstandings. Now they were meeting a race that clearly had not been exposed to any known race, a _pure_ First Contact, and the most dangerous.

The mystery of just how the human ship had gotten there besides the obvious reaction thrusters for conventional travel was perplexing. There were no mass effect field distortions anywhere, not a hint of any concentration of dark energy, no element zero signature at all. The small spheroid ship clearly used fusion propulsion, but the lidar scans of it were baffling. The power output was insane and their reaction mass had no hint of helium-3 in it. There was no way that they had come from any of the planets in the system either, they were all well explored and had revealed no hint of life besides primitive microbial forms on the inner planets. They could've used the Relay, but she doubted it. A ship only relying on Mass Relays for FTL travel was too limited in where it could travel. By its size and shape it could've been a light Scout, but no Scout ship worth its price couldn't use independent FTL. There were no obvious weapons apparent on it, but high heat signature concentrations behind armored panels on its fore quarters indicated that they were underneath. This unfortunately denied any visual clues on their capabilities in that area.

The puzzle was partially solved when they had visually detected the fusion drive flares of distant ships over six light minutes above the local primary. This had also revealed the light and IR emissions of yet more ships at that point of space. They were massive - the smallest being just below a dreadnought, whilst the largest was some sort of super-dreadnought, at easily double the size of the largest Turian vessel she had ever heard of. They were just fringing on the size range of Quarian Liveships. The humans liked to build big and their aerospace construction technology had to be very impressive to build such huge vessels. It became clear during their text conversations with the _Reliant_'s Captain, that their species had no knowledge of eezo or Mass effect and that made the acceleration of those giants for their sheer bulk astounding. The sheer power of their Fusion Torch engines defied belief. If the Liveships turned off their mass effect fields and tried to do a similar burn, she doubted they could even accelerate at all. It was an engineering marvel that had her chief machinist itching to see the innards of a human Torch drive.

Lea'Foris returned to the present and pondered the human form as she walked beside her fellow Captain on a tour through the _Upanni_. It was like looking at an Asari with a pale white skin tone and a stylized fur growing out of the head instead of tentacles and in addition they had male and female genders. It seemed the skin tone could vary in color as well, judging by their male Medtech.

Livingston – an odd family name – reached out to a holopanel cautiously as they approached a bulkhead door. Her gloved five fingered hand flitted through it with no effect. "Thought so. How do you interact with the hologram?"

"There are small sensors and accelerometers in the tips of my fingers that computer recognizes when it enters the holofield," Lea demonstrated by tapping the panel, which prompted the door to split open, allowing them to move forward.

Livingston's face contorted into a smile and shook her head. "We have holographics, how come we didn't think of this?" The other female human, Lieutenant Mercer was quick to answer.

"We're a tactile species, Captain. We like the push of a button too much, that's also why we don't like fly-by-wire ground vehicles. We want to feel the response of our machines."

Lea made a note of that little quirk, "There are practical reasons for it as well. Physical buttons and interfaces are the first to be destroyed from longitudinal shockwaves when a projectile strikes the hull. Whereas a holointerface has its own redundant power source and would only go down when your main computer is destroyed, at which point it wouldn't really matter if you still had buttons left or not. The devices in my fingers also give a small amount of force feedback when appropriate to simulate the feel of a button."

Livingston smiled intently back at her fellow humans for some reason.

"If you'll forgive my curiosity," Mercer spoke up as they squeezed themselves through a corridor, "we noticed that you use matter-anti-matter annihilation to propel yourselves through space. How have you made storing anti-matter safe enough to justify the risk?"

Lea tilted her head as she considered her answer. "I can see how it would seem so to you, as you do not have mass effect based technology. The only other way to contain it would be with electromagnetic fields, which would be prone to fluctuation if a ship was to enter high EM radiation environments or if there was ever a hint of power fluctuation."

"And enemy fire," she retorted.

"Yes. The anti-matter is stored in pods which project a shaped kinetic barrier within it based on dark energy. Similar barriers cover the interiors of the anti-matter injector lines and the reaction chambers. The barriers in these are shaped to channel the annihilation in the appropriate direction. As for enemy fire, we mount the engines away from the main pressure hull and they are protected by strongest barriers the ship can generate. If they became in any way damaged to the point of a containment breach, they can be detached in a moment."

Livingston shook her head, "This 'Element Zero' of yours seems damn handy."

"It is, and I am curious as to how you can achieve Faster-than-Light Travel without it. You must have that capability to have reached this system at all."

"Yes, we do have FTL, just not a form you're familiar with I believe," Livingston's mouth twitched. "And it's the first time we've ever encountered a Mass Relay. So we were understandably curious, not to mention you're the first intelligent, spacefaring, non-human life our race has encountered." That shocked Lea and it made this First Contact even more risky. "Mercer, if you would try to explain."

Another bulkhead door opened they entered the tiny gathering hall where the crew of _Upanni_ could get together and spend their off-time together, it was also a place where they could tell new stories and watch dances transmitted from the Flotilla. The Turians had made this space as the only concession to crew comfort. She gestured, inviting the humans to sit down.

"Given what you explained about your own FTL, well, it's _very_ different. I'm going to end up using words and concepts that our translators will have trouble with, so to explain it scientifically will be a waste of time. So – if we look at the table we're sitting you'll see it's a certain length from end to end. Imagine this length as the vast distance between stars, and you want to move from one to the other. Our FTL, in a way, makes this distance mostly irrelevant." Mercer took her hands and put them on both ends of the table. "From what I saw of your math, you have the concept of higher dimensions, more than just length, width, height and time, well, our FTL pushes ships briefly through the fifth…" she abruptly clapped her hands together, and stretched them out again. "We call this fifth dimension, Hyperspace -a dimension where concepts such as time and distance are very malleable."

If Lea had been baffled at their incredible Fusion reactor output, she felt similarly out of her depth with this and its implications. "So your ships can just appear wherever you want?"

"There are limits," Mercer looked to her Captain with a raised eyebrow. Livingston frowned and tilted her head slightly side to side. "And one of them is probably why we never discovered element zero, considering you mostly find it in the asteroid debris that orbits neutron stars and pulsars. Entering and exiting Hyperspace requires that your ship is in a gravitationally neutral location."

Lea felt the realization settle on her. "So that's why some of your ships are so far away from the local primary?"

"Yes, the greatest source of gravity in any system is its star, and depending on the type of star, what we call the Jump Limit is greater or smaller. No one in their right mind would want to jump to a pulsar or neutron star. You'd only be able to safely appear at a point where it'd take months to make the journey to the debris that has element zero, not to mention survive the radiation as you get closer." Mercer frowned and got a distant look in her eyes.

"In any case," Livingston raised her hands to show her palms, "our job here is to get to know one another. In addition, we'd obviously wish to learn how to use the Mass Relays, the other races that use them and if your people would be amenable to a meeting between our respective leaderships. There are obviously things we can help each other with."

Lea recalled the brief factual summation of their recent history in their Contact Package and it wasn't hard to feel sympathy for them. They could almost be called kindred spirits to the Quarians. They were also exiled from their home, albeit on their own volition, to prevent their Fleet from being used to cause harm to their own now fractured nation.

It would be interesting to see the Conclave and Admiralty Board's reactions to this information.

"There is indeed, Captain Livingston."

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**Recreation Room, Quarian Scout Frigate **_**Upanni**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**4th September 2785**

Both the _Upanni _and _Reliant_ were now a holding at a light second distance from the Mass Relay and Lea had a full watch rotation kept on the sensors. It was just a matter of time before a ship passed through, and given the nature of the Cluster, she had little confidence that whoever it was would just merrily go on their way. So she had made pre-emptive judgment call that she hoped the Admiralty wouldn't exile her for. She had opened the full Quarian historical database and codex on the other races to prepare and arm the humans for their eventual future encounters. And it was as she watched and listened to their reactions that she began feel a slight hint of relief that her call had been right.

Captain Livingston sighed, putting down the display pad and initially reaching to rub her eyes reflexively but the transparent steel helmet was in the way, so she settled for blinking her eyes wearily. It was another racial quirk that Lea was fascinated by, that their eyes had such a variety of colors. It had also demonstrated how their sleep cycle worked, as they had had to return to the Reliant to eat as it had been quickly determined during the analysis of the Contact package that Quarian food would be wholly incompatible to the humans.

"These Asari, they really live for a thousand years?" Doctor Ezekiel shook his head. "But what measure of year are we talking about?"

"The standard galactic year is measured by the orbit of a general planet within the life-bearing zone around a star," Lea explained.

"Okay that's a really long time," he breathed in amazement.

"Well, we can write off the idea of ever joining the Citadel Council, let alone even getting an embassy on that thing," Captain Livingston's mouth twisted in an odd fashion, expressing some emotion that Lea couldn't gauge on that face.

"Why?" their Mathematician asked curiously.

"I've been reading over their common treaties, policies and laws. There are just too many we couldn't and wouldn't ever accommodate. They have a treaty – for instance - which regulates the amount of Dreadnaught scale capital ships each race is allowed. Differences in shipbuilding scales aside, we'd fall way over the mark. General Kerensky would laugh at the first Captain suggesting we do this, and then promptly have him or her stripped of position and rank. Then there's their history…" Livingston got up and began pacing back and forth beside the table. "Now I admire their co-operative unifying ideals and its rather similar to the Star League, neither is a perfect utopia and we did bring the hammer down on some conquest eager noble who got too big for his britches or the Periphery nations. But some of this shit…" she shook her head. "Captain Foris, did you seriously have a colony world going and because of your dire need settled there before the Council could make its decision?"

Lea knew instantly what the human Captain was talking about, every Quarian did and it still filled them with nothing but contempt for the Citadel Council.

"Yes. All indications during our preliminary petitions were that they were going to accept our claim to that world. Then because of our 'illegal settlement' they denied it and instead gave it to the elcor, and gave us one month to leave or face orbital bombardment on our settlements."

"So they'll let bureaucracy get in the way of their duty, never mind the morality or definitions of right and wrong. Captain, do you have any idea why they let the Batarians maintain an embassy on the Citadel when they have and still openly practice slavery?"

Lea saw that Captain Livingston's fellow humans reacted with shock at hearing that and picked up their pads to reference what she was talking about.

"No idea," Lea shook her head, "the Batarian Hegemony is however beneath the notice of the powerful Council races, except for when they get belligerent or their slaver raids penetrate into Council space or lightly defended colonies. The Batarians themselves are divided into castes and slavery is a part of their culture. "

Livingston's eyes tightened, "Well, it's a part of _our culture_ to burn slavers from the void when we can or arrange them appointments with firing squads."

Lea pondered what in their history caused them to react so vehemently to the mere idea of slavery. If they were indeed eventually bound for the Terminus then it would be something they would have to get used to. She felt her omni-tool activate itself around her left arm at that point.

"Captain Foris," the voice of her second in command, Hilor'Vannis intruded into her helmet. "The human ships are on approach to match our velocity and course. Captain …we knew they were huge but seeing them up close is whole different experience. They're like moving suns to our IR scans."

"Easy Foris, I'll be right there." She tapped the omni-tool to close the line and turned to the humans. "Your ships are on approach."

Livingston smiled, "Good, General Kerensky will be pleased to meet you."

Lea'Foris gulped rather nervously, now she could add Ambassador to her list of job titles, to a race that considered a dreadnaught a rather modest cruiser.

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Theresa entered the _Upanni_'s small craft bay and found it like the rest of the Quarian ship to be absolutely stuffed to the gills with crates and supplies. Like a bird in its nest, nestled among all this was a sleek aerodynamic shuttle that had clearly seen better days. Its red hull was faded and there were clear scars and welding seams from repairs done to it. Captain Foris led the way through the maze of crates and soon they were both inside the shuttle. Its interior had mismatched seating, but looked capable of holding eight people rather comfortably. The cockpit was only recognizable as such because of the rather expansive forward window and only when Foris sat down in front of it did a plethora of holographic screen and controls blossom into being in front of her.

Theresa took the apparent co-pilot seat and watched her fellow Captain twirling her hands through the holocontrols as she did the pre-flight. Two more Quarians entered the shuttle at this point, both male and lightly armed with pistols on their hips. Their personal weaponry was another thing that would have to be looked at by the Science departments of the Fleet. They were extremely compact kinetic weapons and blossomed into larger form before use. They fired a miniscule projectile, judging from the tiny diameter muzzles. She wondered what they were doing toting BB guns, when she considered the properties of eezo and how velocity factored into the kinetic energy equation.

Foris gestured to the new arrivals, "Captain Livingston, meet Machinist Kol'Xirel and Marine Squad Leader Hann'Sharl."

"Pleasure to meet you both," Theresa nodded at the two. "Machinist?"

Kol'Xirel tilted his head in acknowledgement, "I keep this boat working, which isn't easy at the best of times ma'am, considering its eighty years old and seen its share of battles."

Theresa was impressed, for such a relatively flimsy ship to be so old, yet still working was a testament to the skill of its engineers. She could see the Fleet's techs becoming fast friends with their Quarian counterparts, each wanting to pick the other's brains. She wondered if she should enlighten them as to the age of some of the vessels in the Fleet, but decided that it could fall on the Fleet engineers to have the satisfaction.

The main door of shuttle hissed closed. "Opening bay doors," reported Foris. Warning lights began flashing all over the interior and a large maw yawned open. Theresa blinked as she saw yet another part of life in space that mastery of mass effect and dark energy had simplified. There was a shimmering blue field that kept the air within the bay.

"Those kinetic barriers they only work on the air?"

"Yes," Foris nodded. "It's a field modulated that will keep air in, but not strong enough to stop us from going out. Disengaging clamps." There was shuddered throughout the shuttle's hull and it was briefly pulled down by the artificial gravity within the Upanni. Then the small ship's ME fields counteracted it and it was hovering, before a brief thruster boost propelled the shuttle into the void.

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Lea was never so thankful that her helmet mostly hid her facial expressions as she approached the formation of human ships. Her helmsman hadn't been kidding at all. The central ship, which Livingston called '_McKenna's Pride_', just seemed to get bigger and bigger in the forward viewport. Looking at them in unison she began to discern a distinct cylindrical basis in the design of all their ships.

"Approach the aft section, you should see our destination open and lit up," Livingston advised.

Lea nodded trimming the shuttle's course whilst instructing the Virtual Intelligence to do a lidar scan to map the surface of the '_Pride_. The ship soon drowned out the view and it truly beggared belief how much armor it had, not to mention the level of economy and resources it represented. She found the landing bay Livingston had mentioned, and steered the shuttle lengthwise to the _Pride_, before firing reverse thrusters to come to a relative stop and edging it into the large bay with maneuvering thrusters.

The Bay doors began to move and closed with an ominous silence. Her sensors alerted her that the bay was pressurizing, which she took as a cue to land. A bulkhead door opened and two lines of what could only be human soldiers marched out in perfect formation, rifles held out a perfect distance from their bodies in both hands, whilst their green uniforms looked just a bit too frilly and thin to be practical for combat. They came to a stop and their rifles were moved so that one end rested on their feet. She noticed that they were all wearing grey metallic frames around their lower legs. Another soldier entered and rolled out a red flexible floor.

"You're getting a formal welcome. Reserved for foreign dignitaries."

Hann asked with a bit of incredulity, "You greet people with a squad of armed soldiers? Even those you're not at war with?"

"Yes, formal allies as well," Livingston explained. "It's an ancient tradition dating back to when we still used swords, the idea being that you openly display you martial capability to show you're a worthwhile ally or that your warriors are strong and fit. And if we receive an Ambassador from an enemy, it's a means of intimidation and show of strength, sometimes those soldiers would be in full armor as well. You should see it when we have this ceremony on a planet, now _that_'s a sight to behold."

Lea saw that a smaller human, also in a similar green uniform, on the left shoulder was some sort of rank patch, ribbons and brightly colored stripes on his left chest. Knee-high boots covered the pant legs. A green half jacket was worn over the thick shirt of the uniform, and running from the right shoulder down to the left hip was a blue sash. Oddly, he didn't have any hair at all on his head, the overhead bay lights reflected brightly off the skin.

"That's General Kerensky, and our cue to exit. Also we're in a zero gravity area of the ship, you do know how to move in it?"

Lea nodded, switching the shuttle off with a few gestures in interface, and tasking the VI to do the post-flight. "Our enviro-suits have electromagnets on the feet."

Kol was already matching the shuttle's internal pressure with the exterior, when she stood next to entry hatch.

"We're good to go."

"Open it."

The door hissed open and Lea felt the familiar lurch of sudden zee gee the moment she left the shuttle's gravity, a quick use of her omnitool and her feet were attracted to the decking of the bay. It took a while to get used to walking so slowly. The Star League soldiers abruptly raised their rifles again, holding them forward in a stiff pose but the muzzles remained pointed upward. Hann and Kol flanked her as they walked down the gauntlet of soldiers.

Now that they were so close she could see their rifles were very large with thick barrels and she doubted they could compact into a smaller form. There were two types, a dark black one and a thinner gray white weapon. She couldn't contemplate or examine them further as the leader of the humans approached her.

"Welcome to the _McKenna's Pride_ Captain Lea'Foris vas Aktannay, I'm General Aleksandr Kerensky, Commander in Chief of the Star League Defense Force in Exile."

"Thank you, General."

He gestured with a welcoming smile, "If you'll follow, we can get the formal parts out of the way quickly."

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**Quarian Scout Frigate **_**Upanni**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**5th September 2785**

Vice-Captain Hilor'Vannis stood on the small balcony overlooking the main holodisplay, gripping the rails tightly in his hands and tried not to worry. His Captain was on a foreign warship of an alien species, and until she was back on the _Upanni _he would not relax. His sleep had been fitful as he always ended up dreaming or imagining the worst case scenario. That the _Upanni _would be summarily blasted out of existence without warning, his Captain a hostage to interrogate all their secrets out of. That he would have to rescue her off that monolithic ship, or leave her by escaping into FTL , then through the Relay to bring back reinforcements from the Flotilla.

Captain Foris had transmitted from the shuttle that all was well and talks with the human leader were progressing rather quickly and was rather straightforward. Humans, or this General Kerensky, apparently didn't like formalities and bureaucracy at all. Of course, Captain Foris didn't have the authority to do anything beyond what she had already done and to bring word of the First Contact back to the Flotilla, and then let the Conclave and Admiralty Board look at the human proposal.

"So far it's looking like an alliance is on the table, even mutual defense," Lea had explained. "Their Fleet joining the Flotilla, while they send scouts looking for a suitable planet to settle on in the Terminus. They'll pull their own weight of course, and in exchange for learning eezo tech from us they'll offer refit services to the Flotilla from their yardships."

Hilor shook his head in disbelief. The mere idea that you could have a shipyard which could build a heavy cruiser within it and not only mate it with a ship, but make it FTL capable as well was yet another example of either human lunacy or sheer brilliance. He would reserve his optimism though until he actually saw such a ship for real.

In the meantime, the Captain had also sent an open one-time coded message back to the Flotilla through the Com Relay network, weaved in a list of new stories that was often traded back and forth between all Quarian ships.

There was a bleep of warning from the sensor station, Ya'Del the senior Lieutenant in charge of the eyes of the _Upanni_ announced, "Vice-Captain! We have a ship on sensors."

"Bosh!" he cussed. "Visual and ID it now."

The holo of a large bulky, rectangular ship appeared with two large articulated fusion drives mounted three quarters up its length. Its dull brown hull gleamed from the eezo core light of the Mass Relay and the distant primary. It looked like a ship the…

Ya'Del eventually laughed, "Its registry identifies it as the Elcor Cargo ship_ Ponderous Thoughts_."

Hilor grinned in his helmet at that rather ironic name. "The Elcor…"

"We're receiving a call from the _Reliant_," the Com officer announced.

Hilor tapped his own controls to connect it. _"…Reliant to Upanni. Come in."_

"Upanni, here."

Jimmy Haynes upbeat voice filled the Bridge,_ "Should we be worrying about that ship, Vannis?"_

"They're no immediate threat, Commander Haynes. They're Elcor."

"_Elcor? Hmmm. Oh, that high gravity species_."

"Yes, and they're a Citadel affiliate race and which means that knowledge of your existence is going to reach the Council soon enough."

"_Excrement_."

Hilor turned a sharp stare to the Com Officer, who shrugged, "That's what the translator's got. It's not perfect yet."

"Yes well, being near the Relays and using them, it was inevitable really."

"_We'd have liked it to be on our terms, ah excrement. I'll pass the word along that we don't have to worry much. Are they gonna contact us?_"

"Eventually," Hilor answered. "The Elcor are a curious race, but take their time in doing things when it's not a life or death situation. It'll probably take them an hour just to decide to call the _Upanni_."

"Understood, would you guys be willing to act as intermediaries?"

"We'll transmit your language to them, to speed things up somewhat, but be prepared for a long wait nevertheless."

"Thanks. Just how does a race like that get anything done?"

"Oh it gets done. Just not in time frames the other races have the patience for. Their art performances can last over fifteen standard hours for instance."

"_Insane. Thanks Vannis. Reliant out_."

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**Admiral's Quarters, SLS _McKenna's Pride_**

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**5th September 2785**

"Their world is called Dekuuna, native environment of four point two gravities. Quadrapedal, grey skin, very muscular. They're deliberate, conservative and communicate via not only voice, but scent, micro-movements and infrasound," Aleksandr read aloud the highlights on the Elcor. "It must be a pain in the ass to properly translate that language."

"The Elcor are accommodating to other species on that," Captain Foris explained. "They will precisely annunciate how they feel before speaking or if there any such underlying meanings."

"Thank goodness, I don't want to start a cross-species incident with a faulty translator." Aleksandr got up from his desk and stared at the ship projected against the backdrop. He had no right to call it 'ugly' considering some of the eyesores that had come out of the various aerospace firms in the Human Sphere over the centuries. The Elcor ship was sturdy and probably did its job quite well, but scored a fat zero on the aesthetics department. "So while we wait for the Elcor to respond, how long will your superiors take to reach a decision?"

"We'll most likely be joined within two standard days by a very Senior Captain, or perhaps even an Admiral. Once my report is confirmed by him or her, the Admiralty Board can vote on whether to provisionally accept your offer. After a longer period of time, perhaps six months and you prove trustworthy and reliable the Conclave can ratify the alliance formally."

"Good attitude," Aleksandr nodded, "trust but verify."

A beeping from his terminal interrupted further conversation, he opened the channel. "Yes?"

"_General, we're receiving a transmission for Captain Foris relayed from the Upanni."_

"Pipe it through."

"_Yes sir."_

"_Captain Foris,_" the voice of the Upanni's XO greeted. "_We're receiving a com request from the Elcor._"

"Accept it, I'll do the talking."

"_Understood ma'am. Patching you through._"

Aleksandr was startled by the deep odorous voice that issued from the terminal_, "Tentatively optimistic: Greetings. I am Leader Pols of the Elcor ship _Ponderous Thoughts_."_

"Captain Lea'Foris vas Aktannay, Quarian Scout Frigate _Upanni_ an honor to speak to you Leader Pols. How can I help you?"

"_Curiosity: You are engaged in First Contact with a new species to Citadel space." There was a long pause. "Conciliatory: We recognize that you achieved peaceful First Contact. Humble: We request information that you have gathered to allow Elcor their own contact with the humans in time."_

Aleksandr inwardly sighed. They were barely coming to understand the Quarians and now the Elcor were already cueing on the doorstep.

"We'll send you their entire Contact Package that they sent us. They have thus far proven a peaceable people and they have told me they will eventually seek trade with the Citadel."

"_Neutral: Indeed. Eagerness: The Elcor looks forward to such a time. We will need a Drive discharge in the system's gas giant to prepare for the next leg of our journey_."

Aleksandr nodded at the Captain.

"We and they understand, you may go about your business."

"_Grateful: Thank you. Have a good day._"

"You still there, Hilor?"

"Yes, Captain. I'll send the data."

"Thanks."

Aleksandr ended the transmission, then opened a channel to the CIC. "Captain Gelford I want a constant sensor watch on that Elcor ship, please."

"_Understood sir._"

He closed that channel and looked at the Quarian Captain thoughtfully, "How long can a ship go before needing to discharge its mass effect core?"

"It depends on the size of the core and the mass of the ship around it, but a general rule for a ship like the _Upanni_ is that it can sustain sixty hours of FTL and we've managed eight light years every twenty four hours."

"So twenty light years in two and a half days, but then you'd need a discharge site, and if you don't find one?"

"Then the core reaches critical saturation and discharges into the hull, killing everyone and destroying internal systems," Captain Foris explained ominously. "The Asari have ships that can push upwards of twelve light years a day, but they've reached a ceiling in the balance between cost, ship mass, drive core size and utility. You'd have to put an expensive oversized core onto a small ship to get better endurance, but then you can't have a lot of mass for things like armor, weapons and so on. A ship like that gets destroyed it's a lot of credits down the disposal chute."

"Hmmm, interesting and this energy that's being discharged, it's just static electricity in essence? Nothing exotic that's generated by eezo?"

"Yes."

Aleksandr smirked,"Well, I think we have yet a further way we can help the Quarian people."

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**ECS _Ponderous Thoughts_**

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**5th September 2785**

"Hurry. Wake up, rookie."

The sleeping form groaned in his bed and sat up. "What is it, sir?"

"We've got an Alpha First Contact. Right before our eyes. Quarians found them first."

"Indeed. Exciting. Any information on the new xeno-species?" he stood up and dressed quickly, affixing the mass effect belt that would let him walk in the high-g maintained in the rest of the ship.

"Quarians were kind enough to forward the xeno's own contact data package. Call themselves Human. Analysis ongoing. We need you to go over the bio-data."

"Understood," he activated his belt and eagerly exited the bunk room.

"Mordin!"

"Yes sir," Junior Lieutenant Mordin Solus of the Salarian Special Tasks Group re-entered the room and wondered why his superior was holding up a pair of his pants.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Captain Jodon pointed at Mordin's lower extremities.

Mordin looked down, "Ah. Forgot pants. I apologize, Captain."

Jodon couldn't help but grin widely as Solus pulled the pants on, before leaving again without a hint of embarrassment.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Quarian Cruiser **_**Eemea**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**7th September 2785**

Admiral Hof'Genar vas Eemea stood on the main Bridge of his home ship and watched his crew's reactions to the Human Fleet. They had just transited through the Mass Relay and were rewarded with the awesome sight that hovered a light second z-plus relative to it. '_At least Lea's report is true_,' he thought with some relief. He really didn't want to think about what would happen if it had all been a hoax on her part. Not that that was in her character, but many considered Captain Foris insane for the risks she took in trying to explore the inherently un-explorable. But here were the fruits of her labor in trying to penetrate this Cluster, and it had literally fallen in her lap.

"Set a course to intercept the _Upanni_. Give me a Lidar sweep of the Human fleet as soon as we're in range."

"Yes, Admiral."

Hof gazed intently into the holofeeds as images and data poured in. He felt a slight sense of vertigo and had to grip the rails of his station to retain balance as the _Eemea _accelerated. "Ancestor cursed dampeners," he griped. The _Eemea_ had always had this irritating problem, since before he was born on it. The momentum dampeners always lagged before catching up with every burn from its Antiproton Engines. No amount of tweaking by Flotilla machinists had ever succeeded in correcting it. "Report."

"Captain Foris' report is accurate thus far," the Sensor Chief replied. "No dark energy readings, no element zero signatures coming from the Human ships, only massive amounts of heat and IR energy."

"Incoming laser link from the _Upanni_."

"On display," Hof ordered.

Captain Foris' distinctively suited appearance resolved within the holodisplay. "_Upanni calling Eemea_."

"Eemea here," Hof smiled, "my dear Lea, what you have gotten for us in this Ancestor forsaken place?"

"Good to see you too, Admiral Genar," she laughed. "If you want an answer, I suggest we look at the following co-ordinates. The humans want to put up a demonstration for us."

Hof looked to his Sensor Chief, who nodded. A few moments later an image of the space roughly a half a light second to the left of the Human fleet appeared. "Okay, what are we supposed to be looking for?"

"Just keep your eye there it'll happen in about eight minutes. I'm transferring all our data on the Humans to you now."

"You did well, Lea. Not many Captains can boast this kind of First Contact and a peaceful one at that in their service history."

"Just doing my job, Admiral."

"Nevertheless, you can expect a promotion soon."

"I'm where I need to be, sir."

"Lea, I'd sooner take off my helmet in a Vorcha toilet than try to take you away from the _Upanni_," Hof declared intently. "Senior Captain is no rank to scoff at, _Captain Foris_."

"Yes sir."

"So tell me your personal impression of them."

"They're almost all of them professional and veteran military, along with their families who fled their collapsing Star Empire roughly two standard years ago. So far, if Captain Livingston and her crew is representative, they're a people who could be our greatest friends and allies, or if angered, become the direst threat."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's in the data we sent, but their history is filled with wars amongst competing factions and star nations. Even though they were eventually unified in an empire with a single overarching military, each star nation still maintained local sovereignty and their own standing armies. This relative peace lasted for a few centuries, but then their ruling dynasty was betrayed and assassinated, starting a massive war. I'm still trying to get my head around the scale of it and the weapons that's alluded to have been used."

"So they're very good at war."

"It's practically an organized sport. They have something called the Martial Olympiad, where the latest and best war machines would do battle in live-fire simulated battles, though it's in the rules that there should be no fatal attacks. It was a method to keep 'in shape' and for the various nations to show off their hardware. _'Our exercises are bloodless battles, and our battles are bloody exercises_,' as Captain Livingston said when I asked her about it."

"Admiral, something…weird…is happening at the coordinates," the Sensor Chief tilted his head to squint at his readouts. Hof looked at the holoscreen. Six huge masses of red shifted light had suddenly appeared at the co-ordinates. "I'm getting massive amounts of infrared radation sir, it's off the scale." The red blobs of light slowly began to shrink and attain definition.

"Lea, what are we looking at here?"

"This is the first time I see this, but it's apparently the Human FTL method in action."

Hof stared fixedly at the holoscreen and his mouth was agape as he saw the distinct shape of a huge white hulled cylindrical-style ship emerge from each of the redlight spheres, which were now fading rapidly.

"By the Ancestors! You weren't kidding!"

"I'd never joke about something that could literally end up saving our race, Admiral. They can just spring their ships into existence from star to star when they want to in any direction; it's colloquially called a Jump or Hyperspace Drive."

"It's certainly an amazing technological feat, but why would you say it could end up saving us?"

"While Hyperspace FTL has practical limitations, all of which I've yet to learn, the one thing I've confirmed with the Humans is the one problem it doesn't have. It has no need for discharge sites into the magnetic fields of planetoids or gas giants. You understand the implications of that."

"Keelah," Hof breathed in amazement. "They're unconstrained in exploration, just pick a star and go, no worry about not finding any discharge sites."

"With their help we might find a habitable world off the Relay network, and beyond the limitations of normal FTL, Admiral."

Hof could certainly see the appeal in that. Even the die-hards who wanted to smash the Geth and retake Quarian space and worlds would see the military value in finding a rich unclaimed star system the sentient machines couldn't reach, not to mention relative safety from all other dangers and meddlers of the Galaxy.

"I'm on my way. You indicated that the human leader is among these ships?"

"Yes. He's on the _Upanni_ in fact, getting a tour of the first 'alien' ship they've ever encountered."

"Good, that simplifies matters without getting into docking collar issues. See you soon, Lea."

"Till then, Admiral."

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**ECS _Ponderous Thoughts_**

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**7th September 2785**

"Fascinating."

Three fingered gauntleted hands tapped on the holo-keyboard. Large black eyes glittered with the orange reflection from the many screens surrounding the hunched figure. He paused for a moment, tapping a finger on his smooth orange cheek before fiddling with his head tails in thought. Mordin Solus looked around the cramped confines of the large cargo container that sat within the main hold of the _Ponderous Thoughts_. It was essentially a mobile base in a can, shielded from detection in every manner possible and held everything a six strong STG team could conceivably need. They were generally optimized to the mission profile but could serve in a pinch for other needs when necessary – such as analyzing the nature of the new species that had entered the galactic stage.

His colleagues had already retired for some much needed rest, but he had been unable to even contemplate following fashion, not when there was such a mystery to solve and data to analyze.

"Solus, do I have to order you to go to bed?"

Mordin turned and saw Jodon standing in the doorway to the mini-base.

"Can't sleep. Not now. Humans too great an opportunity for study. Starfaring non-mass effect based civilization. Unprecedented. Unique FTL method."

Jodon shook his head, seeing the human ships just appear from nowhere with none of the customary signs of a mass effect fields disengaging had been very disconcerting. They had at first thought that the human ships had always been there and had merely switched off some sort of shipwide visual and thermal cloaking device. But then they had seen that the ship ladar silhouette's matched exactly those were strangely hovering a large distance above the system's ecliptic. Then the light had reached them of those ships just vanishing in a similar red haze.

Mordin nodded, "Have been trying to make sense of that FTL. Very difficult. No basis for comparison to existing technology, or methodology. Human ships have no element zero signatures, nothing to hint at how this is achieved. Merely know their radiant fusion energy profiles are abnormally high."

"That's not exactly true," Jodon pointed out. "Mass Relays technically makes you disappear and reappear at another point in space. Could they have reverse engineered and somehow internalized the technology on their ships? But the lack of eezo doesn't help this theory…"

"Hmmm. Frustrating, lack of data. Though I suspect even with data we'd struggle. Can look at any new Asari, Turian and other races' technology, make reasonable guess as to how achieved, not here. Humans are outside context. Who knows what other tech they could have?"

"I really wish Pols would get a move on," Jodon sighed in frustration. "I want to get this news back to Command. But we can't 'officially' make an appearance until the Elcor do."

"Secrecy very frustrating in this situation," Mordin clenched his hands. "This could be just what I need to start Doctoral work."

Jodon looked at his underling with sympathy, it would likely take a long time before anything related to potentially revolutionary human technology was declassified enough to release into the academic sphere, "Anything new on their biology?"

"Just finished modeling probable environmental factors in which humans evolved based on representative figures in their Contact Package. One point three times Salarian standard gravity, though given that they're a starfaring race, would've adapted to other gravity conditions. Homeworld also has high water content, and skin tones suggest variety of solar exposure levels. Still working on necessity for different color eyes. Fur on head seems both practical and societal evolution, grown to sufficient length, practical for keeping head warm – therefore homeworld had extreme cold fluctuations in past. Fur also has color variations and can be styled to reflect individual."

"Interesting. Well, I'm off to bed, don't stay up _too_ long."

"Yes, Captain."

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**Quarian Scout Frigate **_**Upanni**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**9th September 2785**

It was rather hypnotic staring at the pulsating blue depths, in which the magic happened that let mortals shrug off the chains of the universe and go faster than light. A KF Hyperdrive equipped ship had no equivalent place such as this, you just knew that it was there in the core of the ship, that it did its job. Aleksandr tore his eyes away from the entrancing sight, for it wasn't just a whole new vista of science which had opened to humanity, it was probably the key that would allow them to one day go back to the Sphere and bring the cursed House Lords – even kicking and screaming - to the table on Terra and unify humanity _properly_.

There could be no division in the face of the new reality. As much as Aleksandr had enjoyed two peaceful alien First Contacts, he knew it wouldn't last. He only had to look at the history of the Citadel species to see that every half a millennia or so, some massive galaxy spanning war or cataclysm broke out, or a First Contact would occur with a hegemonic hostile species with superior technology as was the case with the Rachnii. The possibilities were infinite, and Humanity had to be prepared.

"General Kerensky."

Aleksandr turned to regard the suited visage of Admiral Hof'Genar approaching.

"Admiral, I trust Captain Livingston satisfied your curiosity of our little Task Force?"

Hof saw that humans had a certain penchant for understatement, "Her tour was well conducted General, thank you."

"Good. I understand you can't speak yet for your people's decision, but I would like to hear your point of view."

Hof walked to the railing overlooking the Element Zero Core and leaned against it, "You are correct in that we have much to gain and very little to lose in an Alliance. So far my only concern is that with your manner of dreadnoughts and capabilities added to the Flotilla, that certain factions in Council space and Terminus, overt and covert, could perceive it as a threat and take steps."

"And I doubt we would enjoy these 'steps'."

"Precisely," Hof nodded. "The Flotilla is already a formidable force, we have to be to ward off pirates in the Terminus and potential Geth attacks. But for example, if we decided tomorrow to blast into Council space and take the Citadel, we could do it. But our ships are full of civilians and non-combatants that would die in the process; and the counter-attack from the Asari and Turians would be horrific. Everyone else knows this too."

"But if our warships are added to the Flotilla…" Aleksandr trailed off.

"That could be just the excuse some trigger happy, paranoid Turian or pirate lord needs. Your ships also represent valuable new tech, most won't initially see that, but your FTL alone will be the key to previously impassable systems in the various star clusters. It'll be like a galactic wide eezo rush."

Aleksandr thoughtfully gazed into the eezo core, "I'd love to see them try to make sense of Hyperspace theory. So we'd have to take steps of our own then to ameliorate this."

"One way would be to find a cluster much like the Crossroads, one which would only be passable by your FTL. Then find a rich system somewhere beyond in which to settle."

"That would be ideal, but it can't happen immediately. I would also imagine that the Flotilla would like to enjoy settling behind such a moat as well."

Hof'Genar sighed, "It would certainly be nice for the Migrant Fleet to stop in an unclaimed resource rich system, even settle down on a world. But the politics and the problems of our immune system in an alien environment… in any event General, you would have my vote on the Admiralty Board. The mere thought of getting time within one of your Newgranges for my homeship's overhaul…"

"Thank you."

"I'm also releasing to you the protocols for Mass Relay use, it's quite easy but your Fleet helmsmen will need a bit of training beforehand. If your entire Fleet is to come here I'd prefer they get underway to the Flotilla as soon as possible, especially when your civilian ships arrive. Word of your arrival will spread, and I'd rather that you not lose a ship to pirates or privateers."

Aleksandr grinned inwardly in triumph but his face remained stoic. "Your concern is appreciated, Admiral. We humans have a small ritual when such agreements are made." He held out his open hand. "If it is within your cultural norms, grip my right hand with your right hand."

Hof tilted his head in confusion, but did as the General requested. The human leader's five fingered grip was quite strong but moderated. Their joined hands moved up and down slightly. "It's a gesture of agreement, trust and even friendship in certain circumstances. I look forward to working with you Admiral, to the benefit of both our people."

"So do I General."

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**SLS **_**Reliant**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**13th September 2785**

"Fleetwide report just came in, Captain," Jimmy announced.

Theresa looked up from her reading which was on a very handy Quarian holopad and finished the sip of her coffee from its sealed container. "Let's hear it."

"Attention all ships. Fleet has successfully performed its first jump to rendezvous with Task Force in Omega 101. ETA three weeks."

"Excellent. It'll be good to be 'home' as it were," she looked down at the pad. "How's your prep and studying going?"

"Getting there," he nodded, gesturing to his own pad. "Transrelay operations, fascinating stuff. I've done nine simulations on the _Upanni_ and so far I haven't crashed into a Relay once. It's not that difficult, we just need to be on the spot with our mass calculation, transmit it to the Relay on the correct frequency just before piloting the ship into the approach corridor and tada – we're on the other side of the Galaxy."

"It should be interesting to see our Fleet go through though," Theresa could only imagine the spectacle that would be. "We'd probably have to go through in groups. I see here that the more mass you send through a Relay at once the more 'drift' there is when you appear on the other side, it's even compounded when your distance is greater. The greatest recorded drift is just under a million kilometers."

Jimmy's eyes widened in appreciation, "Shit, we definitely don't want any of our Jumpships doing that; they'd be left hanging in the wind if we were under combat conditions."

The main bulkhead doors to the bridge opened, allowing Captain Foris and Chief Machinist Kol'Xirel entry. They floated in the zero gee with practiced skillful movements. Theresa smiled at her opposite number and almost laughed when she saw the body language of Xirel. "How was your tour of the Reliant?"

"Illuminating." "Frustrating."

Theresa couldn't stop the laugh this time at the chorused answer, "What's the problem, Xirel?"

"You fuse _normal hydrogen_ in your reactors! It's – it's been a dream for Quarian scientists to realize that since we were driven from our homeworld. It would greatly simplify the Flotilla's logistics. Keelah, we'd be taking a huge step to approaching complete self-sufficiency. Helium-3 scarcity for the fleet would be a thing of the past! No more complex extraction from gas giants. It's no wonder your drives can produce so much thrust and with such efficiency, you're approaching equivalent levels of performance to the best Anti-Proton Drives I've ever heard of."

"Five centuries ago, we also used heavier fuels in reactors, but given that diatomic hydrogen is nearly the most common element in the universe, it seemed prudent to build reactors capable of using it," Theresa explained.

"It's also a pity our smaller ships can't hitch a ride on your Jumpships, not without a full refit at least," Xirel sighed in disappointment.

"Not unless you want to destroy the ship, and that's the _best _case scenario of what could happen," Jimmy declared dryly with a smile.

"What's the worst case scenario?"

"The ship gets mangled and warped, crew turned insane and sometimes merged with deck plating – yet they still live, or it could vanish only to reappear at its destination decades or centuries later. Imagine stuff from your worst nightmares and that's what you get from being caught in unstable hyperspace, which is what would happen if any ship doesn't have a KF Boom structure and tries to hitch a ride."

Xirel was silent for a while, trying to imagine such things and then shuddered, "I'll take your word for it, Commander."

"Please do."

"So Captain Foris, where do you plan on taking my ship?" Theresa asked curiously.

"Admiral Genar wishes me to show you the Flotilla, so we will have to use three Primary Relays," Foris' Omnitool lit up around her left forearm and her fingers tapped on the ghostly buttons, while her left hand itself worked with a holographic scrolling device much like a mouseball interface. Theresa still felt somewhat awed that they could make a holoprojector that small and versatile, not to mention the compact computing power such a thing represented. She wondered how Quarian computing would compare against Star League standard Neural Dimensional optical computing.

It was at this point that a holographic projection of the Galaxy appeared above Foris' fist, scaled about to the size of a dinner plate.

Ren Juan sighed wistfully, "I _so_ would like to get a look at your holotech."

Foris shrugged in answer but stuck to the business at hand, "We are here." A red dot blinked on the fringe of the main spiral arm, then a long red line was drawn heading galactic north-east, before it abruptly changed to north-west, then another long line north before finishing just on the far northern edge of galactic habitable zone. "The Flotilla's current location."

"We're going to opposite edge of the Galaxy," Jimmy expelled a breath of awe; "we haven't even seen or mapped those stars with the Galactic core in the way. Good grief_, _my old Astrogation instructor would _kill_ to be in my shoes now. Not mention every civvy astronomer in the Fleet getting baby juice all over their astroscopes at the mere thought of this opportunity."

Theresa rolled her eyes in exasperation. Her XO had a tendency to get crude when faced with the extreme.

"In any event," Foris continued, "because you have no navigational charts for the clusters we'll be passing through as yet, we need to convert your nav-system into Quarian standard and vice versa. So that we can match courses properly."

"I've gotten a good start on doing that already, Captain," Jimmy explained. "It's just a matter of finding proper conversion ratios for their units of distance measurement, our comparative number systems have already been translated and loaded into the nav-computer. We should be ready for tomorrow with time to spare."

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**SLS **_**Reliant**_

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**14th September 2785**

"Five minutes to transition."

Her chair was in combat acceleration position, and she stared intently at the main holotank watching the countdown timer and the tactical plot, as the blue delta arrow that represented _Reliant_ crept closer and closer to the rendered representation of the Mass Relay at a relative crawl. The approach corridor was a ghostly cylinder running parallel to the construct.

It was considered good safety amongst all species to enter a Mass Relay with as little speed as possible, since while your initial momentum briefly vanished once you entered the corridor of mass-less space-time, it would return the instant you left it. Appearing out of a Relay at a percentage of light speed could be done, but you would be doing it blind, with no clue if there were other ships in the vicinity. The Relay had enough smart intelligence to give you a clear spot to appear, but did not give you a safe _corridor_.

The _Upanni _was a minute behind the _Reliant, _letting their potential new friends precede them while making sure they didn't screw up. Theresa couldn't help the feelings of nervousness and excitement. She'd had the honor of First Contact, now she would also have the first human use of a Mass Relay to write on her Captain's Dossier and _Reliant_ would go down in history for yet another reason. The reason was mostly practical; the ETIC team still had a job to do and would not disband until a full report could be compiled on the new ETI, and they were still on the _Reliant._

"One minute," reported Jimmy. His hands working the main helm touchpad controls whilst a VDNI neurohelmet allowed him the ability for on-the-fly minor course corrections. "We're in range. Initiating transmission sequence."

„Ha! We're getting a response and data from the Relay," Antoinette announced excitedly. "Transmitting transit mass and destination." There was a brief moment of pause. "Relay has acquired us…I'm relaying the approach vector, Commander."

"I've got it," Jimmy nodded, his shoulders tense.

Theresa switched on the ship intercom, "All hands, secure for Mass Relay transition in thirty seconds."

She felt the _Reliant_ do a few course corrections.

"Relay contact in three…"

The exterior forward screen showing the Relay was suddenly washed out when what looked like a tendril of blue energy snaked out of the glowing Relay core to engulf the _Reliant_ completely. Theresa gritted her teeth in anxiousness, but this artificially manipulated dark energy had no detrimental effect on the ship's systems. Her ship's status feeds were still in the green.

"…two…"

"…one…"

The three thousand ton _Intruder_ class vessel was engulfed in a tunnel of mass-less space and seemed to stretch briefly before vanishing entirely.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**SLS **_**Reliant**_

**System XR-345**

**Barnard 33 Nebula**

**20th September 2785**

Theresa wondered if it had been the wisest idea to give the crew access to the galactic wide information network known as the extranet. The crew of the _Upanni _had rather generously donated the bandwidth, allowing the _Reliant_ crew to get further acquainted with general galactic society, news and entertainment. It was a way to pass their off duty time on the real space journey between the two major Relays in this System on their way back to the Exodus Fleet. The conversations in the mess hall had been very bizarre when she had gone to take her breakfast.

"Did you see those Blasto comics?"

"Oh yeah, those are brilliant. Though the Hanar… now _they_ are proper aliens…"

"Those Protheans are amazing, can you imagine building a galaxy full of Mass Relays…"

"Not to mention that Citadel…"

"How can you have a species of only females?"

"They're not females as such, you idiot. Look again… they're monogendered…"

"Can you believe that you have people that can do various forms of telekinesis using that eezo stuff – it just has to get somehow integrated into you in uterus… all the Asari have it apparently… we really need to figure that out…"

She was now on the Bridge for alpha shift and brought out a holopad to browse through all the images taken during their visit to the Flotilla. It was one thing to be told that it was a fleet of fifty thousand ships of various sizes, but seeing it stretch in a near perfect rectangular box formation with an orderly chaos of small craft flitting to and fro among those ships was a truly awe inspiring sight.

Less inspiring was the conditions which the Quarians were forced to endure on those ships, space was at a premium and nothing was wasted. They recycled everything and had techniques that frankly a lot of the Fleet engineers would kill for in their maintenance duties. Their nano-engineering capabilities were simply inspired and was yet another field of science that they would be learning from their new friends. The Star League had rarely worked on that scale with their technology – using only gene-engineered bacteria to produce myomer muscles and other specialty alloys. Small computers were needed after all to make a nano-machine – and a Neural Dimensional Computer was not small, nor could it be made smaller when you wanted to keep its power and reasoning ability the same.

She and her command staff had had a brief meeting with a representative board from the Quarian Conclave…

"Captain!"

Theresa was startled at the exclamation from her Com Officer. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

Antoinette pressed a finger to her earpiece frowning, "We've got an incoming distress call on FTL com, addressed to all ships in _this_ system."

"Let's hear it," Theresa declared immediately.

"…*_static_* under attack by..." there was a hissing sound at this point, "pirates. Repeat. I am _hiss_ Kun Bofneed of _hiss _the Narhu Combine. Pirates _hiss_ are attacking our mining outpost...our Mercenary forces are outnumbered. To any ship in the system, you _hiss_ will be well compensated…"

Silence.

"Transmission cut off at the source, Captain."

"Connect me to the _Upanni_."

"Aye, Captain."

A few moments later the familiar voice of Lea Foris intruded the Bridge, "_Upanni_ here."

"Captain Foris, did you monitor that distress call?"

"Yes…I assume you wish to do something about it?"

"Yes. What is the Quarian policy on this?"

"Given that one day, we could be on the other side of this situation, we'd render aid, but very cautiously. The possibility that this distress call is merely bait to lure _us_ into a trap is rather large."

"What is this Narhu Combine?"

"It's a Volus business conglomerate."

That explained the hissing sound at least, since Volus' physiology required a distinctly higher P.S.I. of atmosphere on their bodies than most other species, not to mention they breathed ammonia, which required them to wear bulky reinforced exosuits. They were also a small race, their tallest barely reaching chest height in comparison to a human.

"He mentioned that they have a mercenary contingent?"

"Yes, and that is what worries me," Lea declared grimly, "Volus are not a physically or militarily capable race, their strength lies on the economic battlefield, and they're well aware of that. They usually employ Eclipse Mercenaries, equipping and paying them very well. That they are apparently being overwhelmed is not a good sign."

Theresa turned to her XO, "Sensors?"

"The system is quiet from our point of view, Captain. Five ordinary looking planets on our scopes, surrounding a yellow star; the fourth being the one where our Volus friend broadcasted from."

"Which is probably an illusion since the light from whatever pirate ship and its actions out there has yet to reach us," Theresa shook her head, adapting herself to space combat where FTL was now a mere matter of calculating your course, speed, entry and exit points, with no regard for jump points or pirate points had taken some getting used to, not to mention nearly every ship being able to use FTL com.

"Exactly," a pleased tone could be heard in Lea's voice. She had been coaching her fellow Captain on the minutia of space combat as the mass-effect capable species knew it. "If this is an attack, then we have to at least assume that there is a group of pirate frigates involved or even a cruiser."

"What would the response time be for any Eclipse reinforcements?"

"I can't say for sure," Lea responded. "The closest Eclipse base that we know of would put them at eight, maybe twelve hours away."

"XO, how soon could the _Reliant_ make it to the fourth planet?"

"Given its current position relative to us," Jimmy consulted his station, quickly working out a course and shook his head. "Twenty two hours."

"So the _Reliant_ can't help," Theresa slapped her leg in frustration. "Captain Foris, what would your time to travel there be?"

"If we go to maximum FTL, twenty three minutes," she explained. "But we have few Marines on board, even if we could blast our way past whatever ships the pirates have to affect a landing, they'd make little difference in securing the Narhu outpost."

"But I'm carrying a company worth of soldiers and a platoon of special forces. We could transfer them to your ship."

"It's also likely that the pirates have armored fighting vehicles."

Theresa couldn't stop the shark like grin from appearing on her face, "I have an idea of how we could give the _Upanni _bit more in the firepower department. Then I think it's time we give these pirate scum a lesson on how you _should_ fight armored warfare on the ground."

"What did you have in mind?"

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Within the bowels of the _Reliant_, Second Lieutenant Daniel 'Buzzard' Larson's mind was thoroughly and pleasantly invested in the view of his fiancé getting into her cooling suit while his own efforts mirrored hers with a practiced efficiency they could both do in their sleep. He tried his best not to groan in disappointment as she fully suited up, taking a few steps to make sure the built in exoskeleton moved properly in all the range of motions.

First Lieutenant Leola 'Piggy' Vasquez began to tie up her hair and debated for the hundredth time about whether she shouldn't just shave it all off, so it didn't bunch around in her neurohelmet. Her eyes met the appreciative ones of her fiancé and she laughed ruefully.

"Honestly Danny. We've got a mission, you know?"

"Sorry dear, you're just too hot to be allowed in that," Daniel grinned as he fastened the last bits of his own suit.

"Thank you, but I'd rather you focus on _not _getting killed… otherwise I'll follow you into the hereafter and kick your ass."

"And I'd enjoy every second of it," he answered cheekily, advancing on her with a mock menacing pose. "Relax dear, what better motivation do I need to make it home than you."

She gave him a light punch on the chest, "And don't you forget it mister. No stupid stunts in that mechanical jigsaw puzzle, you hear?"

Daniel winced slightly and rubbed his chest, "Yes, dear."

"Now let's go, the Captain's waiting."

The walk to the Bridge was rather surreal for the couple, sure they had seen pictures and seen one or two in passing, but now the walkways were brimming with Quarians from the _Upanni_. It almost seemed like they had traded ships, which was somewhat true – in essence. There was no space for a half-company of soldiers, Special Forces plus the Quarians on board the _Upanni_. So for the first time in history, the SLDF had had a crew exchange of sorts with an allied alien race.

When the bulkhead doors to their destination opened they were immediately approached by the one Quarian they could reliably recognize only by her evirosuit pattern.

"Lieutenants Vasquez and Larson?"

"That's us, Captain Foris," Leola nodded and both of them reflexively saluted.

"We don't have much time to go into long winded explanations," Foris raised her left hand, tapping on the holographic omnitool and a 3D diagram of the _Upanni_ appeared over her fist. On it was highlighted two spots on the ventral side of the Quarian ship. "Those are your docking targets. We've already finished installing the mechanisms which should allow you to use your landing gear to link up securely to the hull. We're extending our mass effect field and momentum dampeners to encompass both your fighters. You should not feel a thing. We've run tests and it should work."

"And if it doesn't we're both meaty clumps of squished jelly in our own cockpits," Leola breathed nervously.

Daniel sniggered, "At least then you won't have an excuse to kick my ass in the afterlife."

Leola glared in response, giving him a whack upside the head, "I apologize, Captain. He sometimes forgets this is still the Star League Defense Force."

Thankfully Captain Foris seemed amused more than anything else, "That's all right. Now we won't have a chance for any sort of briefing closer to our target once we ascertain the situation, so all instructions will come via radio."

"Understood, Captain."

"Good, the _Upanni _should be ready for us. May the Ancestors watch over both of you."

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Leola entered Small Craft Bay One and took in the sleek form of her baby with a practiced yet professional eye. The _Rapier_ looked in as tip top shape as she could be, though it was decidedly weird to see the standard wheels replaced with rectangular metal skids. Techs were just finishing fueling her and Chief Walker hurried over with the large neurohelmet in hands.

"Chief," she nodded. "Any problems?"

"She's as right as I can make her, Ma'am. Though that ain't sayin much given as you're going to be travelling at a few thousand C."

She took the heavy neurohelmet and steeled herself, "Thanks Chief."

"Give 'em hell for us, ma'am."

Leola approached the small ladder set into the side of the heavy assault fighter, _'It's just another mission, girl. Don't think, do._'

She climbed into the snug cockpit, and settled in the seat as techs began strapping her in, finally helping her to don the neurohelmet and connect it before disappearing from view. Leola felt the ladder being pulled away from the fighter and it was her cue to begin preflight checklist. Her hands felt like they were being moved on autopilot as she checked her fighter's systems. Finally, she donned the interface control gloves.

Feeling satisfied with all the green status lights in her cockpit, she keyed her radio, "Reliant Actual, this is Rapier 212. Requesting departure clearance." She flicked a small handle and the bubble canopy slid forward and sealed itself. She could feel the comforting hum of her fighter now as its reactor and engines throttled up. The cockpit darkened, now only lit from the various displays surrounding her and the bay lighting.

"212, stand by."

The familiar feeling of gravity slowly began to fade as the _Reliant_ throttled down until it was completely in zero g. Red lights began flashing in the bay and a minute later her instruments now began to show decreasing atmospheric pressure outside her fighter. With full vacuum achieved the bay door was next, moving outward first before lowering itself down the hull to expose the void of space, though it was decidedly picturesque with multicolored hues of the nebula hundreds of lightyears away.

"You're clear, 212. Good hunting."

"Thank you, Actual."

Leola settled her elbows on their designated rest position, raising her hands and engaged the standard mode of the neurohelmet. With a brief twitch of her hands and a thought, her fighter flared its directional thrusters briefly so that the Rapier was now hovering a meter above the deck. Another flare had her fighter squeezing itself out and into open space. When it was twenty meters away from the _Reliant_ she re-orientated with a twist of her left hand, pointing the nose of the fighter to the _Upanni_ and let off a brief burn from the main engines to gain relative acceleration. A ping on her scopes told her that Danny was also out of Bay Two, and heading for the Quarian frigate as well.

She now executed a roll to bring her fighter's skids to bear on the ventral side of the _Upanni_, and added another maneuver thruster burn to increase the closure rate. Her target would be the port side of the hull, whilst Danny would dock starboard.

"_Upanni _to _Rapier_ and _Phoenix_, you're looking good and on target. Dock in thirty seconds."

Leola continued to trim her course and orientation, the nook she had to settle her fighter in on the Quarian hull was very snug, and there would be little margin for error.

As she got closer and lost visual perspective she quickly lowered the steel visor of her helmet and engaged the Complete Tactical Neural Presentation (CTNA) function. Now it almost felt like she was no longer her in her own body, instead the Rapier was _her_ body. She now had a perfect view and feel of the situation. She trimmed more relative speed and fired thrust which finally sent her on course for a dock.

"Three…two…one contact. Engaging mag lock and positive mass effect."

Leola was startled when her fighter seemed to be _sucked _onto the hull and kept there. She breathed a sigh of relief and lifted her visor, and just like that she was back to being strapped into her cockpit, with two arms, two legs and a human body.

"This is Rapier 212, we report secure dock."

"This is Phoenix 43, secure dock."

"Understood, Rapier, Phoenix. Extending mass effect fields…stand by…achieved. Upanni to Reliant, we are ready."

"Good luck, Captain Foris," said the voice of Captain Livingston. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"See you on the flip side."

Leola was startled as the _Upanni_ suddenly began to accelerate, leaving the Reliant behind in what seemed like an instant. The frigate now began a turn on a new course that her computer predicted would take it within five light minutes of the fourth planet, generally known as Engoaari.

"Engaging Mass Effect Core to one hundred percent…"

There was a slight lurch before the _Upanni _leapt forward into the depression of negative space-time her Element Zero core was generating, her anti-proton thrusters shooting the frigate towards their target. The view outside became a beautiful symphony of color as the light entering the high speed mass effect field changed in angle and separated into the visible spectrum. Leola felt like she couldn't tear her eyes away from the view as light became red-shifted, and then x-ray and gamma ray sources became visible.

"I _so_ want one of these for my fighter!"

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**Scout Frigate **_**Upanni**_

Lea Foris stood at her Commander's station overlooking the holographic diagram of the system, her hands gripped tensely on the railings and looking at her crew at their various stations. She hated taking them into battle, knowing that the possibility was there that she would lose them. She took little comfort from the fact that the humans would be taking the bigger risk on the ground, as well as the two pilots in those gigantic things the humans called a fighter. Nor that the Cruiser _Eemea_ and the behemoth _McKenna's Pride_ was on its way to give them backup, it would all be well over before that.

Her eyes turned to regard Captain Livingston, someone who was fast becoming a friend, standing to the side with folded arms. Lea didn't know enough yet of human body language but she guessed that Theresa was probably feeling just as tense, though it didn't show in any cues that Lea could identify. Her presence on this mission was something that Lea had allowed against her own better judgment. It was foolish to have two experienced Captains on a ship; if the _Upanni_ was destroyed it would be an unnecessary loss to bear for both Fleets. Theresa's presence was also a boon however; she was after all a veteran of a full blown total war against a malevolent star nation, which had been won, though at dire cost.

"Two minutes to reversion, Captain," her pilot reported.

"Very well."

She watched both the countdown clock and the holographic _Upanni_ as it slowly moved to its destination in the holotank.

"Oh, I don't miss this part," murmured Theresa.

"What?"

"The wait before a battle."

Lea fought the urge to give in to the nervous energy slowly building up in her, stilling her body language as much as possible. She had to become the rock of stability for her crew now. "Standby on all weapons, GARDIAN network to active the instant we revert. I want every spare cycle of computing power to passive sensors, and a tactical display of the planet plotted in front of me. Keep our active emissions as contained as possible."

Acknowledgements rang throughout the command centre.

"Reversion in three… two… one…"

There was a slight shudder through the ship as it renormalized its own mass relative to space-time. Lea narrowed her eyes at the holotank – waiting for it… finally a full blown render of the planet five light minutes old appeared and all too slowly for comfort the computer began to discern…

"Targets acquired," reported her weapon's officer, "two frigates in low orbit directly over the Narhu compound. Ship database identifies one as a Batarian Erak Class the other as an indeterminate."

Theresa raised an eyebrow, "Indeterminate?"

"A ship that is put together from various mismatched parts, sections or is even a unique build."

"Ah, we call those 'buckets'," she nodded, staring into the holo.

Despite herself and the situation Lea was amused, "Why would you refer to such ships as a handheld container for liquid?"

"Human idiom, that thing looks like someone took multiple cargo containers and welded an engine on its ass; it's not worth more than the sum of its scrap value – hence a 'bucket of bolts.'"

"It might be a 'bucket of bolts', Captain Livingston, but quite a few of the vessels in the Quarian Flotilla could be called that, yet they still mount effective weaponry and defenses that could tear even any ship in this galaxy to shreds."

"True," Theresa admitted. "Everyone's equal under God and Sir Isaac Newton."

Lea buried her curiosity at what had to be a quote and focused on the business at hand, "Less than four minutes until our light reaches them…"

She was interrupted by a flash of light from the bow of the 'bucket' pirate ship.

"They're firing down onto the planet, Captain. Targeting an area just outside the Narhu compound," her sensor officer reported.

"Orbital artillery, and by the orientation of its partner the other ship is there to watch its back," Lea mused. "Did you get a performance reading on that cannon?"

"Yes Captain, roughly four hundred klicks per second."

"A bit slower than should be for spinal kinetic cannon that could fit on that thing, and it's safe to say the Batarian ship would be more powerful."

"That class of Batarian ship is known to fire its spinal cannon at five eight five clicks, Captain."

Lea eyed her human ally, "Can your fighters do it?"

"Would I be here if they couldn't?"

Hesitating served no purpose now, "Begin phase two," Lea ordered immediately.

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She struggled not to get distracted by the view of her second ever trip in negative mass FTL, powering up her weapons and double checking her targeting systems. Her targets would be well beyond any range where visual targeting would help, and the planet would be behind them, making it even harder for the naked eye.

"Piggy to Buzzard, you'll take the _Erak_ on initially with the Upanni backing you up, try and hit its engines – I'll hit the bucket." The damn thing had to be wreaking havoc down on the planet, and this rescue would be for naught if there was no one left down there thanks to ortillery.

"Understood."

The radio crackled to life and pilot of the Upanni reported into her ears. "Stand by fighters, reversion in 3… 2… 1… NOW."

The hypnotic multicolored view outside returned to normal and Leola focused her thoughts and twitched her hands. She was thankful that the Quarians were Johnny on the spot – the maglocks and mass affect fields holding her Rapier in place were off and the fighter separated at a considerable acceleration that had her g-exoskeleton straining to keep the blood in her head. Her sensors already had the two pirate frigates on her screens and she orientated her Rapier's nose towards them before engaging a four g burn towards them.

She gritted her teeth against the strain of the maneuver to keep herself conscious and throttled down to one gee after thirty seconds. With a sigh of relief she now grinned as she saw that her computer was already halfway to a target lock on the ortillery pirate ship, and that Buzzard was already blasting his target with his extended range Large Laser at its max effective range of four thousand kilometers. The Upanni hovered over him protectively and was firing its own spinal mass accelerator cannon at the enemy.

Leola was impressed – she had been briefed on their performance but seeing it in action was something else. The projectiles took eight seconds to reach its target and slammed into the shields of the Erak – which was pushed into visible spectrum as it resisted the kinetic energy of the slugs. The Large Laser spoke again – invisible in space and a section of the Erak's fore hull armor just exploded with plasmatic slivers as it ablated numerous layers.

She prepared herself and engaged CTNA mode. That was all the free licks they would get in with surprise on their side. The Erak class pirate ship was already burning towards them and in lateral evasive maneuvers, looking to close the distance so that its own return fire would not take so long to reach them. It wasn't firing yet, probably to conserve ammo.

Finally, Leola could add her weight to the fight as at that moment she reached powered LRM range. She perceived the computer's lock in her mind's eye as a ghostly triangle hovering over the pirate ship and fired. Twenty missiles streamed out of the Rapiers' nose launcher, guided by active infrared and microwave beams from the Artemis computer. She waited for her heat sinks to abate the heat before firing another volley of twenty missiles.

'This should be interesting,' she thought. The missiles already had her fighter's velocity and were now pouring on their own acceleration. They reached their target by the time she entered energy range, but the missiles began winking out as the pirate ship demonstrated that it had its own GARDIAN network. Only seven missiles of the first volley managed to impact the shields, releasing their kinetic and explosive energy into them, the second faring worse with four hits. Only now did the ship begin to maneuver relative to her course, trying to bring its bow to bear on her.

'Oh no you don't, suck on this!' she thought and fired first her large pulse laser before following it up with a particle cannon. The pulse laser bit into the thin ramshackle hull, the shields merely serving to refract the angle of the beam slightly to burn through and into the internals, atmosphere venting and an internal explosion rocked the ship. The particle beam on the other hand drew a brief violet corkscrewing beam of light from the nose of her fighter to the enemy. The shields could only briefly resist the impact before they collapsed and allowed the particle beam to sheer into the aft end of the ship. It staggered under the blow and another internal explosion sheared a quarter of the pirate ship off from the main body of the vessel and sent it speeding away on its momentum. Bodies and debris began spilling from the wreck pulled out by the rapidly escaping atmosphere.

She abruptly had to fire hard on the maneuvering thrusters when her computer blared a warning at her. A slug had been sent her way by the remaining pirate ship. She had barely four seconds of time to apply enough thrust to dodge, but luckily she had not been targeted by the main gun, but by one of its smaller broadside mass cannons. The enemy was jinking and weaving madly as both Upanni and Buzzard's Phoenix Hawk fighter fought it.

The pirate vessel had suffered numerous gaping wounds in its armor belt from laser strikes and was venting atmosphere from its ventral side where a hit managed to penetrate internally. Leola was very relieved when she saw that Buzzard still looked none the worse for wear – and soon learned why - the Upanni was taking hits for him on her shields. He was using the Quarian ship as a soldier would hide behind cover before peaking out and letting rip with his laser.

It was an impressive collaborative flying performance, considering that Buzzard was doing his coordination with the Quarian pilot via radio. Now it was time to end this dangerous dance – that pirate scum was shooting at her fiancé. The range was within both missile and energy so she turned her fighter's nose to face the battle.

'Uh, Piggy, that PPC will sure come in handy about now…' Buzzard's straining voice crackled over the radio.

'The bastard is fast, and you don't want me to hit you or our friends, now do you?'

She cursed in frustration as her computer struggled to develop a firing solution. The bucket pirate ship had been a sitting duck in comparison to the maneuvers the Erak class frigate was pulling. The targeting programs had not been written for this and she couldn't believe that they hadn't thought to update the damn things.

"Fuck!" she fired her engines at three g to get closer, but she was fighting her own original velocity to get there.

"Any time now, Piggy."

If she couldn't get a direct lock…then… she needed an _indirect one_. With twitches of her fingers and her mind working in concert with machine she locked in a dozen firing solutions that were stippled about the battlespace. Laying them like traps for the energy frigate to fall into. It now all depended on her reflexes to react in time.

She had to force herself to ignore the battle – ignore the desperate maneuvers of both Phoenix Hawk and the Upanni, ignore the computer stippled enhancements of laser shots and projected kinetic slug courses.

_There!_

The Rapier's PPC stabbed out into the void and scored a hit on top of the port arches leading to the pirate ship's anti-proton engines. The shield system tried desperately to stop the incoming ions accelerated to the near speed of light, but it drained all its energy attempting to do so. Buzzard and the Upanni seized on the opportunity – laser and kinetic cannons slammed into the pirate ship.

The laser strike was right on top of a previous hit in the port side of the bow, and managed to blast its way through the remaining armor and into the frigate, finally to tear out a hole on the other side. The slug from the Upanni arrived a few hundredths of a second later and impacted on the already strained armor. There was no penetration, but Leola knew full well that the impact shockwaves that such a hit generated was not healthy on components and crew underneath.

Clear critical damage had been done as the frigate was no longer maneuvering and just sat there going on the momentum from its last engine burn.

Leola managed a proper lock this time, targeting one of the wing mounted engines and fired her pulse laser followed by another PPC blast. Buzzard followed with another laser hit, before the Upanni aligned for a spinal mass accelerator shot.

The now listing frigate never stood a chance.

Its entire port wing exploded with a bright flash of liberated energy as the anti-matter was liberated from the storage pods by the virtue that the pods ceased to exist from the PPC blast. Two thirds of the central hull was vaporized in the explosion whilst the wrecked starboard wing and the front third of the hull shot off on its new trajectories into deep space.

Leola eased her throttle back to one gee and plotted a rendezvous with the Upanni. They had to make every kilogram of fuel count at this point, until the Reliant arrived at least, and there was no telling if they'd have to fight in space again.

"Upanni to Phoenix and Rapier," Captain Foris' voice called. "We've detected a battle taking place on the planet. We need to land."

"Understood Upanni, on my way."

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"Those _particle_ cannons of yours are very effective; never mind your lasers… keelah!"

Lea'Foris was glad her visor mostly hid her awed expression from her fellow Captain. Theresa had been almost completely unaffected by the battle – her body language and posture not varying for a moment, even as mass accelerator rounds had smashed into the _Upanni_'s shields. The only hint that she had been feeling tense or fearful at all was when she strangely displayed her teeth when a slug had managed to strike the Upanni's hull and it had upset her balance from the impact shockwaves. It was either an indication of her wartime experience or humans just reacted differently to stress than Quarians did.

The Star League Captain just twitched her shoulders, bland eyes staring at Lea through the transparent helmet of her armored vacsuit, "The weapons on a fighter are pop guns in comparison to those on our capital warships. We'd in fact consider that Erak class an assault dropship or a tiny corvette at best." She laughed at this point, "That was the strangest battle I've ever been in – usually I'm sitting strapped down into an acceleration couch."

Chief Machinist Kol'Xirel arrived on the bridge at this point, his tool equipment harness dangling on top his stained enviro-suit.

"Well?" Lea prompted.

"Forward kinetic barrier going have to be taken offline," he shook his head. "I don't trust it at all under combat power loads now."

"_Bosh_," she cussed. "The hull?"

"That's the good news, these pirates may have had an Erak but their slugs are crap – it didn't squash at all – just made a through and through hole that I can patch within twenty minutes to restore airtight integrity. Armor repair another two hours on top of that."

"We can't wait that long. The Narhu are still holding out, but soon the pirates down there will break through and they will take hostages now that we've effectively cut them off. We've already lost five people in this fight – I will not let their deaths be in vain."

Kol tilted his head before nodding, "I'll get that patch done in ten minutes, Captain."

Lea turned back to the holotank, watching the two Star League fighters beginning their dock with the Upanni.

"Four of those who died were my soldiers," Theresa said softly.

Lea understood the implication and question, "You and they were on my ship, fighting beside us. They died on _this_ ship…"

Theresa nodded somberly, "I understand."

"Sensors, what's happening down there?"

A flat screen high resolution top down visual of the Narhu compound appeared. "Seems the majority of pirates arrived in a freighter, its IFF marks it as belonging to the Turian Hierarchy – its landed a click away from the compound perimeter," reported the officer.

"That's quite a lot of thermal signatures," Theresa shook her head.

"Estimated one hundred and ten pirates along with thirteen armored IF vehicles, can't tell how many Eclipse are left, but I can see twenty hunkering behind cover along the compound perimeter."

Lea carefully studied the positioning of the two fighting forces, "Then I suggest we even the odds. We can't do anything about the southern perimeter, the pirates are too close and I don't want the Turian Freighter damaged. But here…" she tapped the holograph at the north and east sides. "I want orbital strike solutions plotted for the main gun on those positions."

"Understood, Captain. Plotting…transferring coordinates to pilot."

Four minutes of thrust and positioning later, the Upanni's spinal gun spoke once, then altered its orientation before sending another slug at precisely calculated velocity. Lea always found that fighting in this fashion – while effective and safe for them - was on some basic, fundamental way patently unfair. It was as if they were an angry god that could see everything and hurl death from beyond the sky. On the holoscreen there were two flashes of light and two giant fountains of dirt and fire blossomed around the compound.

"Strikes on target, Captain."

"I see it," she acknowledged. There was now too much dust, snow and debris in the air to get a clear read on how effective the strikes had been, but pessimistically they had just reduced the pirate numbers by a third. "The instant you hear word from Xirel, take us down."

"Yes, Captain."

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It was a thoroughly unpleasant planet. It was negative forty degrees Celsius at the moment and this was its _summer_. The slightly lower atmospheric pressure than Terra standard was at least a boon to his speed and the cold temperatures would aid his heat sinks. The terrain around the Narhu compound was hilly and he could definitely do hit-and-run attacks here. He had been orbiting his _Phoenix Hawk_ Land-Air Mech currently in its Fighter form, at ten thousand feet, doing sensor and visual sweeps. The local sun glinted weakly overhead and it helped a lot. Daniel could already make out what had to be AA turrets on the compound perimeter, but they were all pointing with their barrels to the ground, and there were no active radar or ladar emissions. The craters from the orbital kinetic strikes were like angry black wounds in the earth around the compound and he could see the ruined remains of oddly shaped tanks that had been flung hundreds of meters through the air.

The results of the Upanni's own strikes were clearer from this altitude and it was clear that a lot of pressure had been relieved from the defenders. The pirates had only nine IFVs left taking part in the assault and word from the Quarian ship, was that they only had about eighty odd potential enemy ground troops left, though the possibility was still there that the Turian Freighter held more bad guys.

'Upanni to Phoenix, we have landed, your Powered Armor troops are disembarking, ten minutes to enemy contact. Your Captain tells me you can do something about those IFVs?"

Daniel smiled, "That I can, Captain Foris."

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**Defense Perimeter**

**Narhu Compound**

She slumped despondently against her battered little island of polycrete cover, not daring to look over the lip. It didn't matter that she had shields at all; the volume of fire was so much that they would be overwhelmed within less than a second. She could feel the impact of slugs against her cover though her lungs and she clutched her assault rifle to her body. Even blindfiring would be of no help, lest the rifle itself sustain a hit and then she would be truly fucked by the trickster goddess. Enosa Bontess scowled and cursed herself for the oh-so bright idea of joining the Eclipse. She was barely a hundred and fifty years old, and now all that promise of a bright and long future looked to be coming to an end at the hands of some nobody pirate out of the Terminus systems who would scarcely be paid a pittance for it before he or she blew it all out on red sand or alcohol.

The day had started like any other. Boring patrols and trying to keep warm in the frigid temperatures of Engoaari. A Turian freighter was to arrive to pick up the raw ores mined and depart within the same day. Everything was normal as the Turian crew had disembarked, the ores began to be loaded and Enosa had resigned herself to another dreadfully boring day – until everything went wrong. The first clue had been the AA/AS turrets going offline, the second when every odd Turian crew pulled out a gun and killed their fellow before attacking the Eclipse contingent. The surprise lasted a full bloody half minute before the stunned mercenaries could react and counter-attack. IFVs and pirates had poured out of the freighter. Eclipse countered with their own IFVs and better equipped and trained force – but their initial casualties and the enemy's superior numbers began to whittle down the defenders even further. Then to make matters even worse two pirate frigates had arrived in orbit and had demolished every piece of armor they had with precision orbital strikes.

The Volus had sent off a distress signal at last, but the pirates soon jammed all offworld com and the surviving defenders had little choice but to dig in, man the walls, and hold as long as they could. Then the pirates in orbit must have either goofed up badly because for some reason they struck at their own lines. It had finally allowed Eclipse to concentrate their beleaguered defense somewhat.

Enosa took a deep breath, saying a prayer to the Goddess, before peeping her left eye above her cover. She was allowed two seconds of sight before a sniper shot hit her shields and she flinched back down. Her breathing became ragged – there was a pirate IFV rumbling on its six articulated wheels right towards her position. It's primitive but still effective mass accelerator cannon was silent as her thick cover – the remains of the perimeter wall – and the uneven, cratered terrain was hampering its shot. It's couldn't traverse its cannon to hit her at this range, but that would soon change.

A strange feeling came over her at this point – it was part resignation and part anger – and a determination that if she was going to do die, then it would be not cowering behind this piece of wall. She double checked her rifle taking a few deep breaths to settle her mind and reached down into herself. Enosa's body glowed briefly with an ethereal blue as concentrated dark energy reacted with the atmosphere around her before settling into a solid second skin of energy that created a high gravity field around her.

How ironic that with her death so close that she would generate a Biotic Barrier, the one skill that had always given her trouble since she could remember. She idly wished her mother was here to see it. A look at her eyepiece HUD showed that her shields were back to full strength and there she made peace with herself and the Goddess before kneeling behind her cover and putting her rifle stock into her shoulder and sighting down it.

Enosa popped up and aimed at her death, firing burst after burst of slugs into the IFV – spacing them to allow the heat sink as much time to dissipate as possible. Bullets thudded into her shield and Barrier, but were stopped cold. The IFVs barriers sparked into visibility as it continued its relentless advance. Its combustion engine spewing hydrocarbons out of its exhaust funnel as it approached. She would give anything for a rocket launcher at this point, but none were nearby or in reach. She lost any sense of time – there was just her, her rifle and the IFV. It's barrel started to track her position – she concentrated flung her left had forward – a ball of blue energy left her palm and slammed into the IFVs shields – the Warp bolt twisted and pulled in waves of low and high gravity – she resumed firing just as the cannon came to bear…

The next thing Enosa was aware of was that she was in pain and flying backward in an arc.

Her cover had been completely destroyed – the debris shrapnel had drained her shields completely and her Barrier was barely there.

She landed with a heavy grunt and in the process losing her rifle and rolling instinctively on the debris strewn surface to safely dissipate her momentum. Her ears were ringing and the battlefield was suddenly eerily silent.

She strained on her right arm to get up and began dragging herself back away from the steadily approaching IFV. She could only see from her left eye as the other was swollen shut and bleeding. Finally she felt a solid surface behind her and rested her back against it, breathing hurt but the pain vanished as her hardsuit applied medigel automatically in response to her detected injuries.

Her eye now saw the IFV, it was now slowly coming closer having overrun her position. The bastard inside was doing it on purpose… he or she wanted her to suffer.

'_Fuck that.'_

Her hand went to her hip and her pistol unfurled itself into her grip. She raised it and began shooting. She couldn't properly compensate for the recoil like this and had to bring the barrel back down after each shot.

Enosa could now see into the small gap that the driver used and could see the upper two eyes of a Batarian there, looking smugly at her.

She tried her best to aim for that, but the kinetic barrier stopped her each time. _'Where the fuck did these assholes get such advanced equipment?'_

One last time she raised her pistol and fired…

The IFV erupted into flames and exploded with a thunderous roar. The overpressure was absorbed by the last remnants of her Barrier and she instinctively curled up in a ball to shield herself. Enosa stayed like this for… she didn't know how long, but she realized she was still alive.

She opened her eyes and saw her shields had recharged and besides the broken ribs was otherwise fine. She stared at the now smoldering wreckage of the IFV incredulously and then at her pistol.

"Wha…"

Another pirate IFV exploded to her right beyond the perimeter. Then another and another. Her eyes finally saw the apparent reason. A red beam of laser light traced itself through the air to another tank, the power of it was such that the IFV's barriers might as well have not been there – the laser tore through the flimsy thin rear armor with equal impunity and left it a smoldering, burning wreck as the fuel inside ignited. Her eye tracked the laser to its source and she finally wondered if someone had spiked her medigel or something.

The beam came from the arms of a sleek eleven meter tall bipedal _robot_.

Even as she watched it lowered its arms and thrust blossomed out from under its feat and it leapt a huge distance behind a hill. Barely a few seconds later it leapt again and from both arms laser beams hit another two IFVs. Barriers were utterly useless as both were destroyed. The tall robot landed and began running, its booming footsteps echoed over the battlefield as it retreated swiftly behind another hill as the four remaining armored vehicle of the pirates finally retaliated with their cannons.

A booming noise echoed through the air that Enosa realized was the sound of a craft passing the speed of sound in this atmosphere. Then out of the sky a bright purplish beam of light that was wreathed with corkscrewing wisps of energy stabbed into another tank – she couldn't see results of the attack from her position, but the explosion that shot into the air was enough. Then another, much thicker laser beam appeared out of the sky and immolated yet another.

The now distant robot came into view again, fired twice and just like that Enosa knew that… just perhaps she might live to see another day.

New sounds joined the battlefield as she stood with some effort, clutching her ribs, and limped over to a still intact section of the wall and leaned against it to peer through the gap.

A half company of what could only be soldiers smashed into the flanks of the pirates. They wore combat armor and uniforms she had never seen the likes of before. Rippling patterns of white, grey and a few patches of black adorned them – they only wore torso and groin armor with a three paned opaque helmet over their heads. At first glance their boxy weapons didn't seem to be doing anything – they would point as if they were going shoot but nothing would happen – yet – wait…

She saw a pirate simply fall dead, his corpse smoking from a hole burned through his armor and his barriers hadn't even flared at all. It was only when dust and snow wafted over the battlefield that she understood… as lasers flashed into visibility…

'_Hand held laser weaponry! That's impossible!_'

Then she saw what acted as vanguards and strongpoints for these soldiers and fear began to claw at her. Twelve robots, standing at a head taller than an average Asari attacked. They ran with a mechanical yet internal fluidity and also carried the impossible laser weapons, but some also carried mass accelerator rifles that boomed loudly with each shot. These were stopped by the pirates personal shields, but only once, before a second round would literally tear the pirate in half.

They would also bowl over the enemy as if a Krogan had done it when distances got too close, and a punch from these robots sent the hapless pirate streaking across the uneven snow and they would not get up again.

'_Geth? Are these Geth?_ _No. The others are clearly organic being in armor – Geth wouldn't work with organics…_

'_Who are these people?'_

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**Narhu Compound**

**Four hours later…**

'_This place is a mess,_' thought Lea'Foris as she felt debris crunch under the soles of her envirosuit. She also couldn't help but spot the amount of dead that littered the area, bodies both in the distinct yellow and black armor of the Eclipse and the multicolored, unique armor schemes that each individual pirate had. She paused as two Star League soldiers carried one of their own dead on a stretcher.

'_Ground combat might be fairer, but I don't care for its cost._' The heavy footsteps of two _Nighthawk_ Powered Armors reached her ears and she turned around to see the two menacing presences escorting Captain Livingston – who was herself carrying a Laser rifle. She chastised herself for not having her own rifle in hand and soon had her assault rifle out.

"Captain Foris," the Star League Captain looked grim – humans had such expressive faces. "How are things?"

"My Doctor and medic is helping the Narhu and Eclipse as best they can, their own doctors were killed when the pirates managed to infiltrate the compound."

"I'm sorry we can't help," Theresa sighed. "Doc Ezekiel has no idea what is up or down with regards to the races here."

"That's all right," Lea expressed and waved it off. "He should focus on your own wounded. How many?"

"Eight dead and twenty wounded," her face twitched inside her vacsuit helmet. "Those slugs you use in your guns are tiny, but your volume of fire is impressive. Our standard infantry armor can withstand it well but the repeated grouped hits are the killer."

Lea nodded in understanding. "Come, the Narhu rep is this way."

They walked to one of the prefab three floor buildings in the centre of the compound. Its sides were stippled and sprinkled with bullet holes, in addition to cracks. Standing at the entrance was a small bulbous figure, in a dark black reinforced exosuit. Its head had two glowing eyes and where a mouth should be was a blinking circular vocalizer. The Volus waddled forward at their approach.

"Director Kun Bofneed," Lea began introductions, "this is Captain Theresa Livingston of the Star League."

"…_hiss_…it's a pleasure to meet you, Captain. You have the Narhu Combine's gratitude and thanks…_hiss_… as this is also the first meeting between our species, the Vol-Clan greets the Terra-Clan and we hope this could be the beginning of a …_hiss_… profitable relationship."

Theresa smiled, "He's probably only had twenty minutes to digest the info you gave him, Lea…impressive." She stepped forward and bowed her head. "On behalf of the Star League I greet you and the Volus. It was our pleasure to help – it's lucky we were passing through this system."

"…_hiss_…yes, I apologize that our …_hiss_… accommodations aren't looking too good, but please …_hiss_… come into my office. And we shall speak …_hiss_… of the future."

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	7. Tales of the Exodus 1 to 3

**Exodus Tales 1**

**CIC, SLS **_**McKenna's Pride**_

**Ten thousand KM from Primary Relay**

**Star System Designate Omega 101**

**10th October 2785**

"Fleet Group Twenty commencing in-system jump, General."

Aleksandr looked up from the combat report forwarded to him by Captain Livingston, and watched as the symbols representing a Fleet group of one hundred ships winked into existence from Hyperspace in their designated station-keeping spot within the pre-arranged two light second sphere of space near the Mass Relay. All the symbols flashed IFF codes and green, indicating successful jumps with no problems.

He next studied the warship squadron assigned to guard the Mass Relay for a moment before replying, "Very well, oh do tell the _Vigilant_ to trim its position – they're drifting out of formation."

He went back to studying the handheld terminal. He was very pleased with the initiative demonstrated by Captain Livingston, and even more so the co-operation and performance of Captain Foris. Seeing what could be achieved by both their races when working together had been quite inspiring, and news of it had spread through the entire Exodus Fleet and had done wonders for morale. The Star League could now also boast its third First Contact and already having a good relationship with the savviest economic race in the Galaxy, which promised to turn into full trade relations in time. They also, by right of conquest and salvage, were the new owners of the freighter which the pirates had hijacked to infiltrate the Narhu Compound. Though Aleksandr had only held onto that right for as long as it had taken a team of engineers, quarian machinists, and SLNI operatives to go through it with a fine tooth comb, before 'donating' it to the Narhu for their use.

The navigational charts acquired alone would greatly shorten the time needed for the Fleet to find a potential home. Then there was also the pirate's personal equipment, which he knew were going keep Fleet scientists busy for years – the personal kinetic barriers, omnitools and eezo based small arms being the most important. He personally couldn't wait to see the improved performance of a Nighthawk Power Armor with shields.

His eyes then saw the casualty list of the soldiers involved in the battle. _'They did their duty, but we can't afford this. We need to start having babies, fast_,' he thought. If only it was that simple – children needed homes, parents, they needed infrastructure, they needed schools, universities. Aleksandr doubted natural birth rates were going to cut it, not if they wanted to keep up their technical base and expand it in the near future. The women of the Star League needed a helping hand from science.

"General! The Mass Relay just activated," Captain Gelford reported.

Aleksandr snapped his eyes up and scanned the holotank. It was a mass effect capable Cruiser with a smooth, rounded appearance, "Identify."

"Receiving IFF and referencing Quarian Ship Book," reported the Senior Sensor Officer. "Salarian… _Achak_ Class. Ship's called the _Namida_."

"This should be interesting," Aleksandr murmured to himself. "Open com channel, make sure the translators are on."

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**Dalatrass Quorum**

**Sur'Kesh, Deep in Salarian Space**

**13th October 2785**

It was a beautiful, natural place. A mighty river roared and the water surged over a precipice to form a giant waterfall which threw up a cool mist which hung over the entire area. Plant and animal life with colors ranging from reds to purple to colors that other species couldn't properly perceive, went about its daily routine under the bright sun. Next to all this natural wonder was the only artificial structure for hours of journey by hovercar – but it blended in so well that at first glance most species thought it a rather elegant mountain – until they saw the regular spacing and lines of transparisteel windows and artificial lighting.

Inside, deep within the building in a large hall-like circular room, all the biggest political players in the Salarian Union were gathered – and they were all female.

Aeghor Heranon Mal Queine Killotha, or Captain Killotha for the convenience of other races, resisted the urge to fidget under the combined scrutiny of all the Dalatrasses in the Salarian Union. It didn't matter one whit that his hologram was here and he was actually in the Crossroads Star Cluster, ten thousands of lightyears from Sur'Kesh – making a mistake here would be end of his career, and if he was very unlucky he might even be expelled from his clan.

"…that concludes our other business," Dalatrass Chief Kaliska intoned. "We hear now from Captain Killotha, Cruiser _Namida_, First official contact with new species as outlined by STG report. Captain we have read your initial report, you've had a further two days."

Killotha cleared his throat, "Yes, yes, discovered and deduced new aspects of the Human FTL method, also can report and substantiate on the extranet rumors of a joint human/quarian action against pirates in Tala Head Nebula."

"Continue."

Large holograms blossomed above Killotha's head, showing a formation of the extremely large cylinder shaped human ships with their bows pointed towards a star and with even more huge sails strung out behind them. They almost looked like seeds of a Liegi tree hanging in the wind.

"It's clear they are using these solar sails to absorb energy from the star," as he spoke the image time code advanced until a large group of the ships began to pull in the sails, and some time later they were engulfed with red light that abruptly winked out leaving no ship behind, the image changed to show same ships now within two light seconds of the Crossroad Mass Relay. "My science department theorizes that they use stored solar energy to power their FTL, this would conserve any reaction mass or fuel they may carry for extreme long range journeys. Their ships are large enough to fit anything crew may need, food, air recycling, hydroponics, perhaps even artificial ecosystems, factories and refineries needed to keep ship in good repair and harvest more fuel for reactors."

"Impressive," Dalatrass Njlon commented. "So the ship could conceivably last for generations. Have you determined what is the range of this FTL?"

Killotha winced, "I have gotten no direct answer to that question from the Humans. Their ships use line of sight laser links to communicate with each other when in Fleet formation, so there has been little signals intelligence to work off of. The human leader, General Kerensky, did tell me they have been travelling continuously for just over two standard years. Analysis of the information in their Contact package leads us to deduce ten to fifteen light- year range for every time they engage this Hyperspace Drive of theirs."

"Which is probably deliberately incorrect," Kaliska waved her hand in dismissal. "Speak of this pirate action."

"Yes. Sent small team in a shuttle to Narhu Combine outpost. Clear signs of large battle and orbital strikes. Data mined their logs and records. Still analyzing, but can confirm that Quarian ship _Upanni_ was involved while human's fought on ground – light lag observations of orbital battle are fascinating but can only report in person. All gathered data too sensitive to even trust to highest encryption communication."

"Very well, what of diplomacy."

"Mixed news. Quarians were human First Contact with other intelligent sapient race outside of their own. Quarian point of view naturally colored human perception of Citadel Council. Kerensky was dismissive of the idea of applying for affiliate status, cited number of common laws they – as a result of their situation and future survival needs due to small population – can't comply with."

Kaliska thoughtfully scratched one of her decorated head tails, "Pity, which ones?" Killotha tapped on his computer to send the relevant laws in question, it would take too long otherwise. The Quorum took maybe less than a minute to read. "Interesting. What was the good news?"

"Kerensky is shrewd individual and direct, quite refreshing," Killotha briefly smiled, "while he wouldn't pursue Citadel membership – he did not say no to _direct_ relations with the _Salarian Union_."

A din of rapid fire speaking erupted throughout the Quorum at that news. Kaliska tolerated it for thirty seconds, "QUIET!" Three quarters of the Quorum was silent at once, with her political rivals maintaining their chatter an extra two seconds – just to show their natural opposition but they acquiesced eventually. "Some would say there are no relations with a Council race without a species being a part of the Citadel."

"That is the unwritten perception and law," Killotha acknowledged. "General Kerensky pointed out that the Star League in Exile could maintain certain mutually beneficial _arrangements_ and _understandings_ with the Union, extraneous of the Citadel Alliance."

Kaliska remained quiet for a full two minutes, looking to the reactions of her fellows. "Did General Kerensky indicate if he would pursue similar _arrangements_ with other races on the Council?"

"My impression was that he would do so on an individual basis. If an Asari, Turian or Hanar ship was to show up here tomorrow, they'd get the same welcome apparently. Though that is decidedly not the case for the batarians – and I think it's one of the prime reasons why the Humans do not want affiliate status. In Kerensky's words, '_The day a batarian tries to enslave a human is the day when I FTL jump my entire fleet beyond their defenses and throw ninety ton kinetic kill vehicles at one of their colonies, and repeat as necessary until the lesson sinks in._' Slavery is an extreme cultural anathema to humanity. They find it baffling. Clear sign of double-standards among the Citadel Alliance that the Batarians are an affiliate."

Kaliska inwardly groaned. She sometimes wondered what the Citadel Council of that era had been thinking. The batarian caste system had probably been seen a unique cultural characteristic and asking them to stamp it out, would've been like asking the Asari to abolish their revered Justicar sect. The batarians were a relatively small power, though that looked to be changing with the aggressive colonization they were doing in the Skyllian Verge. Now here comes a clearly powerful species who were their philosophical and cultural opposite – and wouldn't stand for any batarian enslavement. She wondered if the humans would do the same for their quarian friends.

It didn't take her long to come to a decision, "Tell your diplomats to proceed, Captain. A relationship with the Star League and what they represent as a starfaring non-mass effect civilization is not something that has happened in Council history. We would be fools to pass that up. In the meantime, inform them that I will instruct our Councilor on the Citadel to advise the batarians not to 'upset' the League. They do so at their own peril."

"Understood, Chief Dalatrass," Killotha bowed before cutting the connection.

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**Exodus Tales 2**

**SLS **_**Zughoffer Weir**_**, Exodus Fleet**

**Star System Micah, Valhallan Threshold **

**15th November 2785**

Lieutenant General James McEvedy sat in his quarters and cherished the moment he was in. There was no greater pleasure for a grandfather than to spoil a grandchild rotten, and in this case it involved bouncing the five year old Eddie on his knee, with the promise of sweets in the near future. The child's squeals of joy as he was carried around the main sitting room as if he was flying were music to an old man's ears. Alas, the fun was interrupted when the mother entered, looking decidedly worse for wear.

"Mommy!"

Major Sarah McEvedy's angular face lit up automatically with a smile and scooped up the child and balanced him on her hip with a mock groan of effort.

"How has my little young man been?"

"Having fun with grandpa… he promised me a sweet."

"Oh did he? Well then grandpa better not break his promise."

James rolled his eyes and dutifully handed over the candy, which was promptly snatched and began to be devoured with enthusiasm. Sarah walked over to the wallscreen, currently showing a view off the starboard side of the _Zughoffer Weir_, and the awesome sight of the quarian migrant fleet hovering over the inner asteroid belt of the Micah System. The main bodies of the Fleets were barely fifty thousand kilometers apart, to keep each respective Fleet's small craft from making a mess. Uniting the two Fleets into one for mutual protection, while a nice idea was just not practical until human and quarian space traffic controllers learned to work together and the Exodus Fleet acceleration capabilities came on par with each other.

The Micah System was a quarian find that they often used when needing to mine element zero – knowledge of it was guarded jealously by them – but they had acknowledged the need of their new allies to upgrade their ships with eezo cores, as the sluggish acceleration of the Exodus Fleet had proven to be a major disadvantage in simulated exercises and in the Narhu Pirate action. The particular asteroid belt they were hovering over had three known major asteroids with very dense eezo concentrations, whilst the rest of the belt was still in the process of being explored for exploitable minerals. Suitably equipped Dropships and Mining Mechs were already on the asteroid known as Farlas, alongside the quarian mining advisors – who were very giddy in their envirosuits at the capabilities of those Mechs.

The Micah system was also something of a curiosity for Fleet astrogators. It held two planets and both were gas giants, the first being Elohi at zero point six AU orbital distance from the primary, the second was Dumah at one point six AU. Elohi was weird in that it was within the frost line from its parent star – where gas giants couldn't form. Dumah was the same story, and both were _extra-solar_ captures. Going through the captured nav maps was an ongoing process, but so far there were an inordinate occurrence of such gas giants.

Sarah recalled with bemusement the _Zug_'s Chief Astrogator commenting, _'It's as if someone was playing galactic billiards with Jovian gas giants. Extra-solar captures are frightfully rare, at least in our experience._'

"Alien ships!" Eddie pointed out with a bright smile and a pointed finger at the wallscreen – he had finished his candy.

"Quarian ships," Sarah corrected.

"Qu-an ships," Eddie clumsily repeated with a cute frown of confusion.

"Qua- ri –an."

"Qua – ree – un."

"Quarian ships."

"Quari ships."

"Try again, don't forget the –an."

"Qua-rian ships."

"That's a clever little man," Sarah praised and ruffled her son's hair. "Oh Dad, with the upcoming Captain's conference I was hoping you could show this to General Kerensky." She reached into the inner fold of her uniform and handed over a holopad.

James took it and somewhat awkwardly began to tap on it. The Fleet had captured a numerous quantity of the things from the hold of the Turian Freighter, and it took some getting used to from the normal portable terminals. Sarah had thankfully already opened it to display the relevant document. His eyebrows reached into his hairline as he saw the title of the document and the opening paragraph.

"I'm going to need to sit down for this," he said with a deep sigh.

"Take your time," Sarah was busy entertaining and doing some much needed bonding with her son, she didn't have as much time as she wanted, with her taking over increasing responsibilities in managing the 331st Royal Battlemech Division and its personnel, most of whom were quartered on the Zug.

James spent nearly half an hour reading and when he was finished – well, he was impressed and slightly baffled. By Terra, why hadn't this been thought of before?

"It's a notion that was being explored, but the Second Soviet Civil War interrupted it and then the Western Alliance world parliament was formed, and the fat cats decided they wanted to stay that way. The versatility and power of the Omnitool finally makes it possible. We just need to make sure every adult eventually gets one – and should there be shortfalls our current IT infrastructure between ships can compensate."

"We'd need a Constitutional convention first, this cyberdemocracy can't work without that," James mused. "Your economic model is simply inspired though."

"I had some help," Sarah shrugged modestly. "It's merely quantifying the realities of our current situation while including the best principles of an open market private sector and innovation merged with the best of the old Scandinavian socialist policies – call it a Technosocialism. We won't have _money_ as such, not for mundane needs – besides for trading for food to supplement our own hydroponics initially. A portion of our economic productivity is quantized as social money, which is then tithed to microcorp-administered social projects such as interstellar exploration, physics research, genetics, science, defense, and future construction.

An entrepreneur able to garner enough votes in the cyberdemocracy can start a social money-funded microcorp and compete with other microcorps. They are owned by the Star League, and profits are disposed of by the League. Microcorps are required to be transparent as administrative entities, and the League will vote on whether to transfer discoveries and tech to the open source domain. Regulatory matters will be handled by VIs with oversight. The main reward for individuals in this system is reputation. People who invest a lot of time or resources in a given field gain more reputation rewards for doing so."

James sighed and tried to wrap his head around it, "I don't get this reputation or rep system."

"Simply put, someone who has a lot of rep, is someone who is productive, knowledgeable, isn't a lazy slob, contributes to the Fleet and stands the best chance to be eventually elected to the government. There will be no career politicians it's not a choice – responsibility to become our future leaders will be thrust onto those most deserving and can be stripped from those who come to abuse it by the cyberdemocracy. With this we have freedom and rights while acknowledging our responsibilities to our race and the future. Combine this system with our research into genetics to improve ourselves and our core behaviors…"

James began to laugh ruefully, "You know, convincing the Fleet to adopt this will be peanuts in comparison to your final proposal. Really…"

"It is close to the heart, yes," Sarah admitted, putting down Eddie who had begun to fuss with the boring adult conversation and wanted to get back to his toys. "But a 'League' is not what we are anymore. A League is an association of competing teams and that's what the six star nations were. Now we are one sapient race among many in a hostile universe, where any division means we suffer and die. We can't afford it."

General James McEvedy tapped at the holopad to switch it off and stared at his grandson happily playing with a model ASF, before turning his heavy gaze onto his daughter. "Long live the Star Covenant."

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**Tales of the Exodus 3**

**CIC, Quarian Cruiser **_**Eemea**_**  
****Interstellar Space, Five light years rimward from Micah****  
****16th March 2786**

He had seen and met with many humans in the past months, but Admiral Hof'Genar vas Eemea only needed one look at the man called Doctor Kurt Kranz to know that he was decidedly not 'normal'. He wore typical human civilian attire, except that the trousers and shirt were filled with bedazzling fractal shapes, over this was a long dirty white coat that ended at his knees that had numerous pockets filled with holopads, human portable terminals, even primitive writing implements that used ink to write on small pads of fibrous sheets on which the Doctor would occasionally scribble. The hair on his head was long, fuzzy and a tangled mess – a far cry from the ways most humans would arrange it. It was his eyes and body language though that was utterly alarming to Hof.

Those glittering blue eyes seemed to look right through you and saw things that you knew you would never understand and Ancestors help you if you ever did. He moved around with the hyperactivity of a Salarian on stims, always muttering under his breath as he moved from station to station, checking sensor readings, before writing something on his pad again.

Hof turned to General Kerensky who didn't seem at all phased about the behavior, "Is he… all right?"

"Technically yes," the General nodded, "though only barely. It's generally accepted there are two kinds of Hyperspace physicists. The first kind knows the theory and can recite it in their sleep, they can tell you how to build working KF Drives, but they can't really bring you anything new with regards to hyperspace. The second kind… well they've all gone insane. Dr Kranz is that very unique, one in a million physicist who can walk between those two extremes."

The man in question bundled over to them with that manic energy and paced back in forth in front of them for five seconds before finally speaking, but continued to pace. "General, Admiral, all systems green and ready. Receiving telemetry and recording."

"Doctor, would you please explain to the Admiral and I, what we are going to test?" Kerensky spoke quite loudly and quickly.

"Yes, yes. Must explain, otherwise pointless. Utterly pointless! We have made improved versions of original KF Drive Test rigs used in Deimos project. Fitted rudimentary hull to each, placed organic components and plants inside. Then added ELEMENT ZERO! based ships system to each, which will be active during KF jump test. Test rig one will have active a-grav within hull during jump. Test rig two, momentum dampener. Test rig three, kinetic barrier. Test rig four, mass reduction field which will bring hull mass to zero and Test rig five, mass reduction into negative space time."

"I take that the reason we're doing this from my ship and in the relative middle of nowhere that there's a possibility things can go badly wrong with some of these test rigs?" Hof questioned. He had the distinct 'honor' to be the first Quarian to have gone through a hyperspace jump, doing so aboard the _McKenna's Pride_, during the Human Fleet's journey towards the Micah System. It was like nothing he could describe in words. The best that he could do during the Admiralty Board meeting afterwards was 'Impossibly weird' and he had had a rebellious stomach for a whole day after each jump. He felt it in every fiber of his being that mucking around with Hyperspace was incredibly dangerous.

"Yes. YES!" Doctor Kranz pointed a finger at Hof.

General Kerensky gestured to the com station, "Then let's begin, Doctor. With your permission, Admiral?"

Hof took a few moments, trying once again to make sense of the memory of those jumps. He shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably. "Very well."

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**Kearny Fuchida Hyperspace Drive-Element Zero System Interaction Report**

**Test Rig One:**  
High Mass Artificial Gravity System – Result: **Misjump**, extreme damage to organic and material components. Comments: A-grav system is to be switched off before vessel can jump.

**Test Rig Two:**  
Momentum Dampening System – Result: **Misjump**, extreme damage to fore hull material components. Comments: Momentum Dampeners must be switched off before jump.

**Test Rig Three:**  
Kinetic Barrier System – Result: **Misjump**Comments: (Redacted)…. Kinetic Barrier system must be aligned precisely with the hull.

**Test Rig Four**  
Mass Reduction Field System: Zero Mass – Result: **Successful Jump**Comments: Field must be balanced with no instabilities and never extending beyond the hull. Further testing required for Inner system Jump Limit hyperspace traversals and possible Jump distance limit increase.

**Test Rig Five**  
Mass Reduction Field System: Negative Mass – Result: **Successful Jump**Comments: Further testing required for possible extreme Jump distance limit increase with the aid of Lithium Fusion Battery.

**Conclusion: **  
The Star Covenant can commence with implementing mass effect technologies on all KF Drive equipped ships. Further research to be conducted on KF Drive components using compact computing and possible improvements that can be made with implementing mass effect fields during construction process.

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**SCS **_**Reliant**_**, Star Covenant Fleet****  
****Star System Micah, Valhallan Threshold ****  
****10th June 2786**

It was distinctly weird walking on her ship these days. Its engines were not using a drop of fuel, and yet she was striding down a corridor, occasionally dropping and catching a bouncy ball that behaved exactly as it would in Terra standard gravity – thanks to the a-grav system. The _Reliant_could now pull hundreds of gees of acceleration, thanks to a Quarian designed and jointly produced Mass Effect core. The crew was prevented from dying doing such maneuvers thanks to the momentum dampening field produced from the same ME core. Her ship could now also produce respectable kinetic barriers for its size.

The refit had been done within the SCS _Solar_ – one of the ten Newgrange Class Yardships which was designated to - if all went well with the _Reliant_'s negative mass FTL trials – begin refits of all compatible dropships in the Fleet, with priority given to all the combat dropships. The remaining Yardships were devoted to working on the Quarian Fleet ships in most desperate need of their services.

_Reliant_ sacrificed two hundred tons of cargo capacity for these revolutionary features though – it meant carrying hardly any combat vehicles, but it was damn worth it. One of the other significant changes to her ship was the stripping out of all the Autocannons. As they were now, in the new reality the Star Le…_Covenant_faced they were relatively useless and obsolete. Their slugs were too big and velocity too slow, until Fleet engineers came up with eezo inspired kinetic armaments that could fire as quickly and with current Galactic standards of velocity then it was just wasted premium space on ships. The Fleet's Capital Naval Autocannons were also scheduled to go for refits. Quarian Machinists were nevertheless very impressed at the inherent performance of NACs considering they didn't use one whit of eezo and the materials strength of the barrels to be able to handle the laser initiated plasma explosions that propelled the slugs.

Refitting the entire Exodus Fleet, was something that was going to take a lot longer – optimistic estimates put it at twenty to twenty five years. Some ships, due to their size would need not just one ME Core, but _multiple_ Cores. The _McKenna_ Class Battleship or the _Potemkin_ Class Troop Cruiser at one thousand five hundred meters and one thousand five hundred and ten kilotons would need two Dreadnaught scale ME Cores. It was even worse for the _Newgrange_Yardships. To Quarian sensibilities that amount of eezo was ludicrous – their own limited refining capacity meant that it would take nearly eighty years of continuous work, even if that amount of raw eezo could be found and mined, unless the work could be outsourced to the Volus or the Salarians somehow.

That was of course under the assumption that the Covenant wouldn't develop its own eezo refining capacity eventually.

Theresa entered the Bridge and caught sight of the now familiar envirosuit of Vice-Captain Hilor'Vannis as he coached Commander Jimmy Haynes on the particulars of negative mass FTL. Jimmy's station now had an extra touchpad panel which governed the functions of the ME Core.

"Good morning, Vannis," she sat down in her chair and eyed her own new ME Core status display.

"Captain Livingston," the Quarian did his people's own version of 'coming to attention'.

"Is our Commander going to be ready?"

"He learns quickly, but I believe I need to be here for your first FTL flight next week," Vannis declared.

"I've got it, Captain, I've been studying this stuff for seven months," objected Jimmy indignantly. "No need for a back-seater."

"No, Commander," Theresa shook her head. "I know you're far from a raw rookie or pilot cadet, but this stuff is completely new to us. We are not going to take chances, so Vannis will ride next to you."

Jimmy suddenly looked nervous but resolute. He stood and walked to her chair but came to a stop at a respectful distance, "Captain… you are supposed to be on R&R."

She rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Honestly, how I can be expected to go on 'holiday' when my ship is still being worked on and about to pioneer the first use of Mass Effect FTL on a human ship is beyond me."

"It not your job to worry about yard dog work, Captain. Ship logistics and performance is my purview. You haven't been to the QE in ten months."

Theresa frowned forbiddingly at her XO for a moment before sighing in defeat. Jimmy might ordinarily like to clown around, but he was damn good when the going got tough or when he thought his Captain was being particularly stubborn about not following procedures that were in place for her own good. She also knew he'd put in a com to General Kerensky himself if he had to.

"Fine, I'll call for a shuttle."

"That won't be necessary, Captain," Jimmy now grinned smugly. "I've contacted the QEs Captain and I've laid in a course to a rendezvous already. Hilor, if you please."

The Quarian nodded and tapped on the Helm controls. Theresa felt a shudder through the decking as the engines engaged. She looked at her sensor feeds and noticed that the _Reliant_was using its newfound acceleration on an intercept course to the ship in question and would be there in minutes.

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**SCS **_**Queen Elizabeth**_

A rather irritated Theresa found herself in the locker room on Deck 3 of the _Princess_ Class Luxury Liner, changing into her favorite green bikini and looking rather disgustedly at her own pasty pale reflection in the large mirror to one side. Being in space for so long was not conducive to getting a tan. The room was busy and filled with chattering females all changing into swimsuits or back into civilian or uniform attire. It was to be expected that demand would be high to get allocated time on board one of the nine Princesses and fifty _Monarch_Class Liners that had been taken on the Exodus. General Kerensky or one of his planners had clearly understood that the Fleet had to have some capacity for its denizens to relax and de-stress.

So with a towel over her shoulder and her favorite classic Robert Ludlum hardcover book in hand from her personal collection she walked out the room and into what seemed to be a slice of Terran paradise; blue slightly cloudy sky, sun, grass under her feet, various species of trees swaying in a slight breeze. There was also the impression of a planetary horizon. She never failed to be marveled that something like this little slice of heaven could exist within a can.

Of course, the sun, sky and horizon weren't real, merely large holograms and the UV rays that would allow her to tan were generated by the holo emitters themselves.

She found her favorite spot, near a willow tree and laid down her towel before lying down on it. She sighed in pleasure and let the melody and feel of artificial nature pervade her mind until she could almost convince herself she was back on one of Terra's nature parks and opened her book to begin reading.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Can I get you anything?"

That was one of the ever helpful guest support staff. Theresa turned her head to regard a rather bronzed black haired woman in a silver bikini with a sarong wrapped around her hips, balancing a tray with drinks.

"You guys still have alcoholic drinks?"

"We do, but we ran out of the label brands two months ago, we have our own still produced alcohol now. We're still working refining it, but it's not for the faint hearted."

"Orange Martini then, or as close as you can get, thanks."

Ten minutes later of reading later the waitress returned and Theresa discovered that the locally produced drink was indeed extremely strong. Just putting the glass near her nose was enough for it to induce a sneezing fit from the strong tang smell of alcohol alone. She had to pinch her nose and take the tiniest of sips.

"Holy shit!" she took deep breaths to settle the burning sensation down her throat.

"Theresa?"

She whirled her head in surprise at the familiar modulated voice. Lea'Foris stood a few feet away, looking quite out of place and very 'alien' in her envirosuit in the natural surroundings.

"Lea?" Theresa put the glass down carefully and stood with a delighted smile. "Sorry, it's good to see you again, but what are you doing _here_of all places?"

The Captain of the _Upanni_ rubbed her hands together and tightened her shoulders – Theresa recognized it as nervousness, uncertainty, perhaps even embarrassment. "I'm part of a group of Quarians on a small pilgrimage of sorts through the Covenant Fleet, to experience human culture and relate it back to the Flotilla. Your _Monarch_ Class ships are perfect for that with their vid theatres, but I heard about the _Princess_ Class and just had to see it for myself. Sorry… I have to ask, but just _what_are you wearing?"

"It's something human females wear to swim in, called a bikini, allows for a lot of skin to show and absorb as much sunlight as possible – so our skin becomes a darker shade of color."

"You intentionally expose yourselves to solar radiation just to get a cosmetic benefit?" Lea's head jerked backward in astonishment.

Theresa sat down on her towel, "There is a health benefit to humans if done in moderation, have a seat." Lea took the invitation and sat down awkwardly on the grass.

"Is this what your homeworld looks like?"

"A fair approximation of it, a lot of it is covered in cities, but we preserved and kept a percentage of it in its natural state," Theresa gestured around her.

"I can't imagine maintaining something like this, just for recreation," Lea shook her head. "In the Flotilla a ship like this would be used for food production."

"We need this for psychological reasons as well, we'd go stir crazy soon enough in our ships if we don't get a break at least once every year," Theresa explained. "But you should see Deck Two."

"I saw it!" Lea exclaimed shaking her head. "A huge volume of contained water just to play around in."

"We do have sports that take place in water and its good exercise."

"Bizarre."


	8. Tales of the Exodus 4 to 6

**Tales of the Exodus 4**

**SCS **_**Shadow**_

**System Designate 32-Alpha**

**Unnamed Cluster**

**10th July 2787**

"We can relax, Captain. No artificial signals or ships in the system."

Haywood Carr breathed a sigh of relief and wearily rubbed his eyes. Six months of exploring with barely two weeks of R&R back at the Fleet in that time had run the crew of the _Bug-Eye_ class vessel ragged. They weren't the only Covenant ship scouring the network of Mass Relays within that part of it classified as the Terminus systems, but while a _Bug-Eye_ could loiter for months on end with its surveillance and spy systems keeping watch on systems undetected – it was decidedly not as comfortable as other refit Covenant dropships were having. His ship had the distinct privilege of being the first KF Hyperspace drive equipped vessel to also feature an ME Core. The price it paid for both and all the other systems that made the _Bug-Eye_ what it was, was an extremely cramped crew living space.

Given the highly classified nature of_ Bug-Eye_ missions, he could never really talk about it to anyone. Even the fact that he was Captain of such a ship was select eyes-only information. This was relaxed somewhat during the Exodus – and he was often asked by others in the Fleet what it was like. He would only answer, "Look up conditions in pre-spaceflight Terra's attack subs – its worse."

"All right," Haywood nodded at his crew in the tiny CIC. "We're off the edge of the map here people. We just mapped our first Relay. I want us to buzz each planet in this system, do as thorough a survey as we can from orbit and I want everyone to start putting their heads together on what to name this Star Cluster, system and planets. Keep us in normal space, but reduce our mass to zero, I want our journey smooth and economical as possible."

He received a chorus of acknowledgements and he stared into the small CIC holotank displaying this system.

This gateway system was quite large; it had a total of six planets and no asteroid belts. They could already see that there was a planet in the Goldilocks zone, and it had a sizable moon as well. He resisted the urge to set a direct course for it.

They reached the sixth planet within less than an hour. It would be good for nothing more than mining at best, with mass effect belts and properly refit and insulated Miningmechs. It had a rather crushing three point four gravities on its surface, only a trace amount of atmosphere and was over sixteen AU out from the yellow star and as such had a surface temperature of negative one nine zero.

The fifth planet was a hydrogen-methane gas giant, whose high gravity had nicely pulverized what had been asteroids into a ring system, though it did have a rough total of sixty six moons. The fourth planet provided quite a show for the crew of the Shadow, it was a rock planet with expansive frozen oceans, but internal magma flows boiled water underneath the ice at points and occasionally massive geysers would erupt that was easily spotted from orbit. It was within the temperature and pressure range for human habitation, its thick atmosphere largely carbon dioxide and monoxide, which would make breath masks or environmental suits mandatory for future tourists.

It was finally over the third planet that everyone started getting excited.

"I think we've got a bonifide garden world under us, Captain," Commander Morgan, the Shadow's XO grinned with a toothy smile. "It'll be a little bit cold, given that it's two AU from the star, but I'm reading equatorial temperatures of twenty five degrees Celsius. Day length calculated at thirty-seven Terran hours, atmosphere's a bit thin only point six, oxygen nitro mix – but we can work with that. The moon helps a lot too, we'll have tides in the oceans down there and there's a strong planetary EM field going."

"Gravity?"

"Estimated one point two to three gees."

"Com, have we gotten any one-time pad signals from Fleet on the other explorers striking gold?"

Lieutenant Casey double checked his systems and shook his head, "Not since we mapped the Relay, Captain."

Heywood felt a surge of triumph in his gut, "Excellent, make for the remaining planets, I want us back to Fleet ASAP. We need a ship here with proper astronomical facilities."

The second world turned out to be an orange colored nightmare. It's atmosphere was a haze of carbon monoxide and methane. It had horrible thermal fluctuations that formed a near permanent hurricane-level vortex at each pole.

The first world from the star had the crew groaning in disbelief and wearied acceptance. It was a Pegasid or 'hot Jupiter' merely point four AU from the sun. Again something that just couldn't naturally happen – the gas giant was clearly another extra-solar capture.

"What the devil is up with the damn star systems near these Mass Relays?" Heywood groused.

"Growing consensus among the Fleet astrogators is that someone played with celestial engineering in the past, it's theoretically possible, just something we would never do given the amount of time required," Morgan answered.

"Insanity, what's the point? High capacity ME FTL Drive discharge? Convenient fuel harvesting spots," Heywood shook his head. "That's equivalent of someone picking up Mount Everest on Terra and taking it with them, just so they can have a nice climb on their new homeworld. Instead of just getting on a damn Jumpship and climbing it on Terra itself. No… we're missing something, there's another reason."

"The quarians were rather amazed at Floating Ground electrical principles, and static dissipation/recycling tech," Morgan mused in thought. "It's something we always just took for granted."

"Hmmm, I hate mysteries," Heywood scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Set a course for home."

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**Flag Admiral's Quarters**

**SCS **_**Mckenna's Pride, **_**Covenant- Quarian Flotilla in orbit around 3****rd**** Planet**

**System Designate 32-Alpha**

**Unnamed Cluster**

**1****st**** August 2787**

It was a planet of matt dark greens arranged in large archipelagoes and islands, surrounding only three landmasses that could be classed as continents surrounded by dark blue oceans. White cloud formations lazily drifted here and there, though there was a clear storm system in the southern hemisphere at the moment. Aleksandr tore his gaze away from it and raised the holopad to further peruse the preliminary habitability and mineralogical report.

It turned out that the planet was only really habitable thirty degrees north and south of the equator – go higher or lower and it would just get too cold, and anyone trying to live there would be forced to live in temperature controlled dome cities or houses, much like living in Antarctica required. However, there was not only native flora down there, but also fauna. The biologists and Doctors in both Fleets were doing a thorough study where both were edible for levo and dextro physiologies. The animals on some islands apparently reminded them of placental mammals, while on others there were arthropods. The sheer variety of native species was astonishing and there were quite a few appreciative comments appended to the report – at least the biologists would definitely never lack for work here.

Something that made him even happier of this find was the quarian mineralogical scan. The planet below nearly had it all, while lacking in some of the rare earths, it had significant lodes of all the metals considered 'strategic' by the Citadel races; palladium, platinum, iridium and Element Zero, though its platinum content was the greatest of the four.

There was a chime from his front door and after taking a look who it was via his terminal, keyed open the door.

"Aaron, my friend."

"Aleksandr," General DeChavilier greeted boisterously before they exchanged the time-honored one armed manly hug. "I bring news from our bigheads and our first Covenant-wide EDD vote."

Aleksandr laughed, "Shouldn't the results be posted for everyone to see at once."

The General shrugged and an Omnitool appeared around his left arm, he tapped on it a few times. "There we go. It's out…happy?"

"Immensely," Aleksandr replied wryly.

"Anyway, the Docs and exobiologists say they've found nothing down there so far that our immune systems can't handle. That could change, but they're confident they could whip up a genefix immunization. As for the native food, flora and fauna – it's levo, and with proper tailoring Terran standard crops can flourish."

"I don't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed," Aleksandr slammed his hand down on his desk table in frustration. "Three fragile liveships are all that stand between famine occurring in the quarian fleet. I'm this close," he held his fingers an inch apart, "to allowing them full use of one of our Potemkins to grow more food."

"That'd certainly make their day," Aaron agreed. "But those house a large percentage of our population, for the moment at least."

"I know," Aleksandr sighed. "And as nice as this world and system is, it's only our front door and gateway. Have the explorers sent any word?"

"Nothing yet, they're still jumping along the likely impassable routes that Astronomy identified, but honestly, I don't think we can expect this to happen quickly Aleksandr. As much as Hyperspace has made space 'smaller' so to speak, it's still mind-bogglingly big at least when you're exploring away from Mass Relays. The realities of exploration in the unknown are only now really beginning to settle in to our crews. I'd frankly be amazed if we find a suitable moat and system beyond within ten years."

"Well, it'll at least give us time to build up our infrastructure here," Aleksandr looked to the planet again. "Will you look into a feasibility study for me?"

"Certainly, what is it?"

"Insulated greenhouses and eventually their bigger skyscraper cousins."

"You want to grow quarian food?"

"Yes, I want enough production to allow them to stop having to depend on those liveships, which is only one hull breach away from us having to face the prospect of six million starving quarians."

"I'll get on that as soon as I can," Aaron nodded. "So do you want to hear it from me or your terminal?"

"Tell me, dear Aaron, what names have we foisted upon the future generations?"

"The Cluster's name is Sigurd's Cradle."

"Sigurd… Sigurd that was choice number three if I recall, it's Norse?"

"Yes, named after the warrior hero of the ancient Norse Voslunga saga."

"I thought it was fitting for us," Aleksandr smiled. "The system?"

"It seems the feeling in the Fleet is that we should embrace that which is common to all of us, it's based on ancient Greek I believe, Skepsis – meaning 'thought'. The planets have gotten the names of famous scientists of the past. From first to last, Kearny, Fuchida, Watson, Darwin, Pauling, and Keimowitz."

"Watson… " Aleksandr murmured and nodded. "It'll do. Very well, tell the Fleet, the order is given. Dropships may land according to the schedule devised. Let's build our first colony."

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**Scout Frigate **_**Upanni**_

**Fifteen Light Years rimward from Skepsis**

**Interstellar space**

**Sigurd's Cradle**

**18****th**** August 2787**

The holographic clock and distance counter ticked on and the entire crew of the _Upanni_ was strangely silent and absolutely still at their various stations. Even off-duty quarians had stopped what they were doing, whether that be talking about the latest gossip on the Flotilla, which had even risen in frequency with the addition of humans and their doings to talk about. Everyone was abuzz about the Covenant announcement of the quarian greenhouses and especially the skyscraper greenhouses that would be constructed as part of the first human settlement on Watson.

But for the crew of Upanni, they were about to make galactic history. Captain Lea'Foris and Chief Machinist Kol'Xirel stood a few feet from the pulsing ME Core, at its main diagnostic station and keeping a close eye on the holoscreens. It technically didn't matter where they stood, but it just felt right for them both to be right there at the heart of their ship when the moment came.

"Ten seconds…" the voice of Hilor'Vannis echoed throughout the spaces of the ship. "Five…four …three…two…one…."

Kol looked down to the graph that measured core saturation levels and saw that it was as it had been since the refit within the bowels of the SCS _Galaxy_. He looked to his Captain and she walked towards the diagnostic station with awed excitement emanating from her every movement.

She tapped on her omnitool, "This is your Captain. Our core levels are stable! We have just passed our discharge point." Cheers echoed through the ship. "We've made history; it's a very nice feeling. We'll have a celebration at twenty five hundred, _now_ get back to work."

There was good natured laughing and the crew did just that. The Captain disabled the PA and turned to him. "I still can't believe it, nor can I understand how we, never mind the entire galaxy could've missed such a solution."

Kol laughed, folded his arms and shook his head, "When the humans first told me about Floating Ground the first time, I was baffled at first too. It's one of those solutions that's really staring you in the face, but because it's so close, you can't see it or make it out. Though I must admit it's their power transformer designs that are really revolutionary and are at the heart of making this as efficient as it is. All our and the galaxy's efforts at large in increasing our FTL ranges has always focused on 'the big picture' as my human counterparts would say. We always kept trying to think of ways to juggle and dispose of the huge amount of power that would accumulate in the core. We did that with discharge stations built at huge expense and effort or trying to find convenient gas giants and planets with EM fields. Or we built bigger cores if we could afford it."

"When we should've been approaching it the other way round," Lea groused ruefully. "Deal with the charge as it's forming and prevent it from building up at all."

"Exactly," Kol nodded. "The static is channeled from the core by the transformer and is in turn connected in circuit to another transformer attached to our fusion plant. Where it's expressed as a little extra waste heat, that ruins fuel efficiency by about zero point zero three per cent."

"Keelah, every time I hear it, it makes me feel worse," Lea slumped her shoulders.

"Our ancestors and the rest of the galaxy looked at the Citadel, and just copied what was done before by the Protheans," Kol shrugged. "It's only now starting to really dawn on me that we should count our blessings that the humans didn't have eezo or Mass Relays in their native space. They're going to bring a renewal to the galaxy the likes of which it hasn't seen before; just from a tiny piece of their technology base."

Lea held her hands up, "If they decide to share that transformer tech with others."

"It'll happen sooner or later, whether they like it or not. Yes, their transformers are wonderful, something even the asari would love to get a look at, but this solution is merely a different unconventional utilization of existing tech. It'd take but a single extranet mail to an aerospace firm or university to get this idea in use all over the galaxy. Personally, I think they ought to do it on their own terms, patent the idea, put proprietary protection tech on their transformers and sell it."

"Keelah! Can you imagine the amount of credits they could charge for that?"

"I sure can," Kol breathed. "But it'd be a pittance compared to potential fortunes to be made and new resources accessible with discharge being a thing of the past. Exploration will be a hell of a lot easier, that's for sure."

"We'd still be limited by our fuel supply though, anti-proton engines especially. Not to mention crew consumables."

"Never thought I'd see the day where those engines might stop being used."

"Oh I can't wait for the day I can get a Covenant Fusion Engine," she clenched hands together eagerly.

"You and me both, ma'am."

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**Garvug**

**Paz System**

**Valhallan Threshold**

**2****nd**** September 2790**

"Curse on them, barefaced, spiteful mercenary fools."

Like any good Turian, Tikax Herkus had served in the Hierarchy Military before entering civilian life. Then testing very well in academics, specifically biology, he had studied exobiology and was soon enough snapped up after graduation by Binary Helix. All biotechnology firms had tabs on the great Universities of the galaxy, keeping an eye on student test results and graduate papers. He had then worked for ten years in the corporate cutthroat world that was Noveria, before finally getting the prestigious, lucrative yet dangerous assignment to Garvug.

Garvug was a planet that held an interesting yet tragic and bloody history. It had hardly been ideal when first discovered; it was too far from the Paz Star to heat itself up for liquid water to be common. Only along the equator would it rise above freezing, giving rise to a narrow farm belt. Not to mention well insulated marine life in its seas. It had been given to the krogan to colonize as part of their 'reward' for helping the galaxy overcome the Rachnii menace over seventeen hundred standard years ago. No one else wanted the planet anyway.

But the extremely adaptable krogan had taken less than a century to acclimatize and bred hundreds of younglings in warm underground habitats. Then it took only another century for the krogan to completely overpopulate the planet and destroy Garvug's narrow strips of coral reef with overfishing and pollutants. The excess krogan took to the stars looking for another planet to consume. Until the Krogan Rebellions began which had finally ended with the Salarian engineered genophage. The krogan population had been reduced significantly in the war, with their growth forever curtailed and even leading to negative growth.

Of course, in this day and age, the krogan hordes were a thing of the past and they instead acted as Captains who directed groups of vorcha to attack the Corporations in the numbers they needed. It didn't matter that the krogan clans of Garvug was technically 'at peace' with the planetary government and the corporatists. The krogan would still raid the various mining outposts and arcology recovery zones, mainly for the iridium ore they could sell on the black market and more basically to plunder newly recovered coral or farm land just for more food.

The corporations didn't want that, so hired mercenaries to keep the recovery zones and mines safe. Tikax wondered if that's why Binary preferred sending turian staff to work here. They knew that if it came down to it and the mercenaries were bribed or proved suddenly unreliable that the turians could at least pick up a rifle, shoot competently and counter-attack with proper tactics.

This is exactly what had happened.

The spirits forsaken Elanus Risk Control, had decided to play a rather sick, potentially deadly joke on Binary Helix (BH). It had come as a surprise to everyone at BH – Garvug when Elanus' contract had not been renewed. Tikax had asked around as to the reason why. It turned out that the contract had been awarded to a new mercenary outfit calling itself '_Wolf's Dragoons'_. Tikax had no idea what either word meant, but that was soon explained by the fact that it was a _human_ mercenary company. Further enquiries revealed that it had been on the recommendation of the Narhu Comine to the BH Director's Board. There had been a demonstration for the Board by the Wolf's Dragoons and it wasn't twenty minutes later according to gossip that the contract had been signed.

The Galaxy had been abuzz for nearly two years after the First Contact with humans, especially the scientific community. Rumors abounded on the extranet of baffling technology, giant war machines, giant ships, huge fighters and it just devolved into the inane speculation of conspiracy theorists – there was even the insane rumor that humans had an FTL that did not rely on eezo at all. The official word from the Council was that the humans were actually all self-imposed exiles, who had left their native space from a part of the galaxy that had no Mass Relays at all. They had joined their huge fleet with the quarians – who had found them first – and were looking for a planet to settle on somewhere in the Terminus, declining associate membership in the Council.

This didn't matter at all to Tikax at the moment. All that mattered was the fact that Elanus Risk Control had left a day earlier than they should have. BH had tried to stop them with fines and threats of future reprisals, but some genius had forgotten to read the very, fine, fine print on the contract and Elanus' lawyers had successfully slipped in an artfully designed escape clause loophole. Legally, BH couldn't do a thing, but Tikax would bet half a year's pay that these Dragoons were going to get a punitive assignment mission against Elanus in the future.

He checked his assault rifle, hardsuit and shields one last time and glanced at his Omnitool – which was displaying the recovery zone's scanner feeds – an attack was probably imminent. The krogan kept all the zones under careful watch, and the suddenly vulnerable BH facilities were prime fruit ready to be plucked. He, along with two of his Turian BH colleagues were in a hardened pillbox facing outward toward the untamed thick misty wastelands.

"They could've at least left the bunkers heavy weapons," grumbled Tull Vallir, tapping his pistol nervously against his leg.

Lontur Malir flared his mandibles in a wry manner, "That would've been unprofitable for them."

"At least we sent out a distress signal to these…Dragoons."

"And they're going to hurry their schedule to arrive earlier? Assuming they even can get here faster."

"Just what is a wolf and dragoon anyway?"

"Wolf is a predatory canine pack animal native to the human homeworld," Tikax explained automatically. "Dragoon is their ancient name for infantry troops mounted on war beasts that can run at very high speeds." Both Turians looked at him strangely in response. "I looked it up on the extranet. Their history is rather fascinating – did you know that they've also had Wars of Reunification?"

"Really?" Tull's eyes glittered in interest.

"_Wars_? Plural?"

"Yeah, though its scale dwarfed ours by a considerable margin; our wars were between dozens of colonies who bludgeoned each other, until the Hierarchy swept in. Theirs involved bringing entire far flung star _nations_ of their own species to heel with hundreds of planets."

"Spirits," Lontur breathed.

Tikax was interrupted when his omnitool flared and beeped a warning. "Crap, we've got incoming."

Tull and Lontur both had their rifle and automatic pistol raised and braced on the narrow firing gap of the pillbox. Tikax stood and did the same.

"Where and how many?"

"Sector three, dozens of vorcha with about five krogan riding herd. Sector six, two dozen vorcha and varren war beasts, and two krogan."

"Well, I hope these Dragoons live up to their name. They're catching us in a vice."

"Indeed," Tikax donned his combat helmet and enabled the radio com with all the pill boxes and perimeter units. "Okay everyone, they're not going to make this easy. They're trying to split our focus and numbers. I want all perimeter units to sector three. Sector six pillboxes, you're to fight until you're in danger of being overrun, and then I want you to seal your boxes. That'll likely mean letting the enemy into the recovery zone. That's fine; the zone can be repaired if it comes down to it, not worth dying over a bunch of food bearing plants and soil anyway, no matter what our employers say."

He waited for acknowledgements to come from all personnel before tucking his shoulder behind his assault rifle and squinted his left eye into the optics. This battle would have to be fought through optics and on the infrared spectrum…the mist wouldn't allow otherwise. He could see the blurry red, yellow and orange humanoid outlines of the vorcha wading closer through the cold wasteland, their krogan masters were thick bulbous forms behind them – three hundred meters distant.

"Well, at least they're slow in wading through that muck," Tull was using the visor in his helmet to make up for the lack of optics in his pistol.

"All units, I want sure, effective shots on those vorcha pests, wait for the range to come down to one twenty and open fire."

"What are we going to do about the krogan? They'll have heavy shielding."

"We've got no heavy weapons, genius, figure it out," snapped Lontur.

"Concentrated fire from multiple bunkers," Tikax answered absently, he was too busy studying the enemy, who had reached two hundred and fifty meters. "I'll give someone a year's pay for a sniper rifle about now."

A tense silence descended on the bunker and he almost laughed when he saw a vorcha fall face first into the cold muck when it's had lost its footing. His mandibles began to twitch rapidly as his own nervous energy began to reach a high point. His perception of time began to play tricks on him as it felt like in no time at all the enemy reached two hundred meters, yet it seemed to take them forever to get to one fifty. Then like the tracking function on a vid they were suddenly at one twenty meters.

He took a deep breath, sighted on the head of a vorcha and keyed his radio, "FIRE!"

A storm of razor thin slugs sliced through the air, their velocity was such that the air friction heated them and made it look like slivers of light were sweeping the entire sector. Tikax cursed as he saw his own shots zip past its head and hit the vorcha behind in the neck. He resolved that he would spend more time at the range after this, he was rusty. He corrected and fired again, downing his original target.

Lontur's fire was more accurate but he seemed unable to get headshots and his vorcha targets were just getting up after being flung to the ground from the kinetic energy transfer. His story was being repeated across the entire defense line, and they were only scoring true kills by attrition and overwhelming the vorcha regenerative ability with wounds. Tull's volume of fire was greater but it had much less stopping power and he would be missing until the range came down to seventy meters. Tikax's omnitool beeped a warning and he saw that sector six had also opened fire.

Return fire from the vorcha started to bite into the structure of the bunkers. It was rare that a slug managed to sneak between the firing slits, but they were always stopped by their own shielding.

Tikax cursed as his shield took another hit and his eyes widened when he saw a large red flare of heat from one of the attacking krogan. "Get down!"

His colleagues obeyed and not a moment too soon, as the rocket detonated against their bunker. Heat, flame and debris wafted through the firing ports. They stood again without hesitation and without Tikax having to order it, all three focused fire on the krogan responsible. They managed to get his shields down in quite quickly, but the bastard started grabbing vorcha to use as disposable organic shields until his own could recover.

The range was down to fifty meters now and the enemy fire more accurate. Tikax screamed in triumph when they saw not only their krogan go down, but another on the right flank. "All perimeter units retreat into bunkers!"

It wasn't long until three more turians and a salarian BH worker rushed into their bunker looking very haggard, out of breath and their own hardsuits showed gashes and deformities where they had been hit – though the armor had managed to do its job. Tikax kept up his fire and saw that all the defenders were in bunkers though it was already clear that there were wounded, though no fatalities from their vital signs. He waited until the enemy reached twenty five meters before ducking down and tapping on his omnitool.

The exterior bunker slits slammed closed with thick shutters before the entire bunker began to sink smoothly into the ground for two meters. Now there was half a meter of thick armor on the roof protecting them. Tikax slid down against the wall to sit on the floor and began monitoring the results of the battle.

He was gratified to note that they had managed to kill half of the vorcha horde in their sector, while the other sector had fared slightly worse, though they managed to kill three quarters of the total varren, a quarter of the vorcha horde and one krogan.

"Not bad for a bunch of scientists and techs by profession, eh?"

"Easy for you turians to say I doubt I hit a single target with this…" the salarian waved his auto-pistol.

"Holster that thing before it goes off in here," Lontur grumbled. "What are those krogan up to?"

Tikax studied the feeds before swearing, "They've got another wave coming in, our sector."

"There goes all our hard work," the salarian wearily rubbed his head tales. "They'll devastate the recovery zone, the crop will be gone, those damn vorcha – they wouldn't know the term 'sustainable harvest' even if it was beaten into them."

The assembled BH workers watched helplessly as the second vorcha horde closed in – two years of work were going to be undone before their eyes.

"Wait a second," Tikax frowned as he tapped on his omnitool. "Sector sensors just picked up something incoming… visual's crap, I think it's a dropship's… it has a fusion engine plume and it's …right on top of the vorcha!"

"WHAT?" echoed everyone in the bunker.

Tikax focused the sensors and let his omnitool produce a hologram so everyone could see.

They watched as the mist just scattered from the displaced air and it seemed as if a giant beam of plasma fire just slammed right into the midst of the distant horde from the sky. Not a moment later a large hundred meter tall ovoid dropship came into view, riding this pillar of flame to come to a landing. The wasteland would probably be glassed underneath and all the icy muddy water cooked away to throw clouds of steam into the air that even further reduced the vorcha numbers when the superheated steam was inhaled and exposed to skin.

The encrypted radio frequency BH used crackled to life, "This is Colonel Kevin Wolf, of the Wolf's Dragoons. We came as soon as we heard. Now you boys just sit tight in those bunkers and we'll take care of these roaches."

A very large and thick door opened on the side of the dropship, becoming a ramp. Tikax expected IFVs and tanks to come speeding out – what emerged was neither of those. It was nine meters tall, two metal armored arms and two armored legs joined to an armored body that imitated the humanoid form and a rounded head with rectangular eyes. It walked out with a steady gait and fluidity that had to be impossible in such a construction – when it was on the ground it sped up even further easily going a speed that would rival and exceed tanks. Its footfalls crashed into the ground and began to nearly unceremoniously wipe out the remains of the second vorcha/krogan wave.

It pointed its right arm and a massive gout of plasma flame streamed over the enemy. If there was one weakness vorcha had then it was flame. Elanus Risk Control had taken all the flamethrowers with them, but now Tikax could only wish them good riddance. The armored robot turned and pointed its right arm again, this time using a mass accelerator cannon that cut the last three krogan to ribbons.

Four more of the robots had left the tall dropship, followed by five smooth aerodynamic hovertanks which immediately sped into the recovery zone. The robots fell into a formation of sorts and began to sprint even faster around the borders of the zone.

"Well," the salarian cut into the stunned silence, not surprising given how quick their emotional response was, "at least our work is saved. Though I hope they won't use those Flamers in the zone."

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**Tales of the Exodus 5**

**SCS _Steel Shield_, High Orbit of Kearny**

**Skepsis System**

**Sigurd's Cradle**

**2nd March 2795**

Sari van den Vyfer was desperately trying to fix what she had just realized in her mind. She knew it was important but cursed her mind for now of all times to bring this up. Being entangled in the arms and legs of her sleeping lover, but she knew she had to do something.

"Damn," Her mumbled frustration nevertheless had woken the man next to her, and he yelped when she deftly twisted, reversing their positions. She reached to her bed-stand, picked up a holopad and began tapping on it furiously. "Sorry that I woke you, but I just realized something… very important, Stan. Got to go, you were great. Com me… whenever."

She gingerly untangled herself and got up out of bed with a deft shift of balance and twirl of her legs. Sari hurried to the bathroom of her quarters, still tapping away and elbowed the button to start the shower. She put the pad on the sink and stepped into the hot water stream, her thoughts awhirl with gene sequences that hovered in front of her mind's eye. Ever was she grateful that she had cut her honey blonde hair short, yet still kept long enough to form a feminine style. It greatly shortened the time needed to take care of it, and spare time was something she had precious little of these days.

Sari was done in five minutes, stepped out and began toweling herself off. She emerged back into her quarters to find that Stan was still awake, though it was clearly a battle he was losing. It was three in the morning ship-time, which was kept on a twenty four hour Terran clock, just as Watson did.

"Go back to sleep," she encouraged him kindly whilst walking over to the dresser cabinet.

"Don't wanna," he mumbled with a tired smile, his eyes taking in her form in the low light of the bedroom.

"I'd join you if my stupid brain hadn't decided to solve a problem I've been working on for the past month, and I'd never get back to sleep until I get it taken care of." She looked in her dresser pushing aside the various hung clothes – she'd probably need to go into the Clean Room…

With that in mind she reached into the lower rack of her dresser and pulled out a sealed case. She popped it open and withdrew the white suit inside. It was of asari make and took a bit of effort to get on, considering that its shoes were integrated with it and you had to almost climb into it, stretch and wrap it around you. It honestly reminded her of the fetish get-up her aunt had worn when she had worked in the Pleasure Industry. The smart white fabric sealed itself up at its seams by pressing the thin button concealed under the armpit. Feeling the anti-bacterial material quickly adopt her body heat and become very snug in all the right places she put the case back, picked up her holopad and turned to leave.

"I'd kiss you, but…"

"Yes, yes, you work in a sterile environment, Miss Director," he waved it off. "Can I just say that you look even hotter wearing that gelsuit."

"Of course, it's only natural that that be the case," Sari grinned and keyed the door open and emerged into the empty corridor outside her quarters.

Her feet carried her on the familiar journey through the bowels of the _Steel_ towards her microcorp's headquarters and laboratories. The relative silence of the [I]Potemkin[/I] Class ship besides the hum of machinery, life support and other miscellaneous systems was something she was well used to. The Troop Carrier no longer had all the multitudes of denizens it had supported during the Exodus – now it was home to the Covenant's burgeoning microcorp sector – specifically those that dealt with sensitive and critical matters of research that couldn't take place on Watson, for fear of espionage from any of the Citadel races and other assorted undesirable external parties or that something would go very, very wrong with the experiments and negatively affect the burgeoning colony.

So now the _Steel Shield_ was hovering over Kearny, always keeping itself hidden from view of the Mass Relay and Watson via line of sight and would occasionally even use Skepsis itself to make the job harder for any ship that would come through the Relay.

Then there was the crew of the ship itself plus the five assault dropships to augment the Steel's combat power. The Covenant did not want the ship to ever be captured or destroyed.

She entered the microcorp sector of the ship and waved a casual greeting to Director Yamada as he blearily emerged from the front doors of his company.

"Can't sleep again, Sari?" the owner of Carter Aerospace regarded her casually, carrying a briefcase stuffed with terminals and pads.

"You know me, an idea comes into my head…" she shrugged.

"Yes, well don't go giving anyone heart attacks," his hale eyes suddenly turned appreciative.

Her mouth twisted into a crooked smile, "As we said in Canopus, 'It's the best way to go.'"

He nodded, "I won't keep you any longer, good night…or morning, as it were."

Five minutes later she walked up to the headquarters of Gallis Foundation. She had managed to found the microcorp the moment word had come that such a thing could exist within the Covenant. Her initial idea had been to simply pool all the medical expertise, researchers and scientists that she knew of within the Fleet to deal with the inevitable health problems that came with contact with truly alien life and to explore medical tech among the Citadel races. That naturally led to quite a few former Canopian and Terran Hegemony Doctors and geneticists entering her employ.

It had been a surprise to receive the summons to appear before the then General Kerensky – and gave her an executive tender and goal for her microcorp. Now, after more than eight years of work, the beginning of the answer to one of the major problems facing the Covenant was in sight. The doors bearing the Gallin Foundation emblem – an elegantly and uniquely stylized letter G that she had doodled one night – blocked her way, but it was a simple matter of sending a keycode from her omnitool, waiting for the DNA scanner to verify her identity, and then speak a passphrase that was analyzed for voice recognition.

_'Welcome Director,_' the familiar enigmatic female voice of the computer greeted before the doors opened.

The Foundation had a large slice of the available decks in the sector. Not only necessary for the amount of employees, but also because of the numerous specialized medical equipment, some of which were rather large. They were not only Covenant, but also of Salarian make – equipment that was not just bought with foreign exchange earned but also some that wasn't available to the galaxy's commercial sector and had been traded directly. Of course, the damn stuff had to be de-bugged extensively by Covenant Naval Intel – but just in case all the Salarian equipment was housed in separate shielded and isolated clean rooms and they were used as sparingly as possible.

Sari walked past the empty desk at reception, through another secured door and down a corridor. An internal elevator took her into the uppermost deck and at this point she had to enter a hermitically sealed airlock.

She took gloves from a storage compartment that was another part of the gelsuit, a transparent helmet with integrated life support, and donned them. The airlock cycled open allowing her entry before closing again, bathing the area with various UV radiations designed to kill bacteria and viruses, before finally the inner door opened and she walked into the main lab of her company.

Everything was completely white, spotless and it was easily half a football field in size, filled with precisely demarcated lanes that circled around tables, with hundreds of computers and larger medical equipment. She easily navigated the space and found her way to an area some twenty meters from the airlock.

Here was a gelsuited figure sitting at a computer overlooking the fruit of her company's labor. He was playing virtual poker against numerous computer controlled opponents, but she was glad to see that his screen also displayed the Iron Womb diagnostic screen as well. She enabled her suit's com and coughed pointedly.

Doctor William Holden practically jumped out of his chair in fright. "Geez! Oh…Director Vyfer."

She kept her face stern, "I hope you're keeping a good eye on her?"

Holden gulped nervously, "Absolutely, Director. No deviation from norm recorded at all not since our little scare yesterday."

Her face softened, "Good." She walked up to the clear vertical cylinder, no bigger than a meter in height, with its large chrome stainless steel base and integrated systems. The cylinder was filled with a viscous pink fluid and within was the curled up figure of an eight month old human fetus.

She felt like she could stare forever at the little miracle. Sari turned around and walked to her own nearby computer terminal and began typing. "I've had an inspiration on our biotic problem."

"Oh?"

"Yes, but if I'm right we're not going to be able make the entire Covenant biotic – not without severely 'narrowing' and specializing our gene-pool to unacceptable levels in the long term. You see, I realized that in the simulations and experiments those who could tolerate eezo and accept it within their nervous systems such as her," she pointed to the Iron Womb, "had a certain group of gene codes in common." She brought the various test cases in question and a large holoscreen blossomed into being above the desk, showing twelve long DNA sequences – and certain base pairs flashed for attention. "These were all the test cells that showed an ability to work with eezo without going cancerous."

Doctor Holden's eyes scanned the screen slowly from top to bottom. "Interesting, if you're right…then it means at most, only an eighth to a maximum of half of our population could become biotic in the future. But look at this…"

"That was an alteration done during the first diasporas from Terra. It was given to colonists going to star systems with a markedly higher solar radiation output."

"Crap, that's…"

She nodded wryly, "Frustrating. Sure we could give everyone gene therapies to mimic it, and insert it into all our future children then expose them to eezo in the wombs, but we'd need decades, if not generations of research before we could even say with certainty that that's a desirable course we want to take for [I]all[/I] of us. It could very well be an evolutionary dead-end."

"Then we'll have to make do then with an eighth," Holden sighed before flicking his fingers. "Oh, I finished the other bio mapping sequences."

"Does it work?"

"Yes, if it's done gingerly and it will work with our existing population. Though it won't be as strong as it would be in the next generation, born either naturally or iron womb."

Sari nodded in satisfaction, "So I can give Premier Kerensky some good news, at last."

She walked back over to the Iron Womb and placed a hand on the warm cylinder and couldn't resist smiling at the developing child within. "You'll be among us soon, Trina. You're a herald of a new age."

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**Tales of the Exodus 6**

**SCS _Sostratos_, High orbit of Illium,**

**Tasale System**

**Crescent Nebula**

**18th June 2795**

A whistling tune filled the cavernous cargo bay three of the _Carrack_ Class Armed Merchantman. It was packed to the ceiling with massive cargo pallets organized in neat rows nearly a hundred meters long. Anton Lynne stopped his whistling when one of his co-workers shot him an irritated look as he passed. He waited until the grouch was well away and resumed his tune walking up to a pallet and pointed his portable terminal at it. His fingers slid on the touchscreen of the terminal to interrogate the pallet's own small computer that identified what was in it, how much it massed and so forth – very important information to have when doing a Relay Jump or ME FTL.

It turned out it was heavy refining equipment and tooling that would aid in processing the Covenant's glut of raw eezo. So far they'd had to ship the stuff into Council space to get it processed and bring it back and it was driving up the cost for the near continuous refits that the Covenant fleet was engaged in. It was nice to have an entire part of the galaxy to oneself so to speak, resource wise Anton mused. The quarians were also finding it nice to be able to have a semi-permanent 'home' for their Flotilla, as they no longer had to pester other races for mining rights in their systems and compete for resources as much. They could simply pick a star in Sigurd's Cradle and go look for what they needed – then set loose their new _VoidDigger_ asteroid Mining Mechs. They couldn't stop sending out mining expeditions to known space however; as it was never guaranteed that they would find what they needed in the Cradle, so it was most of the time cheaper and quicker to go to known lodes in the galaxy. That meant running the risk of piracy, but from what Anton heard of how that Industrial Mech was armed he wanted to be there when the first pirate tried to go after a _VoidDigger_ and bring some popcorn along to watch and laugh.

Shaking that satisfying thought off and sent the mass data to the CIC and moved on to the next pallet.

His terminal began to interface with the pallet. It was folded up prefab housing modules for Watson. He had seen the new model demonstrated on Illium and it really was impressive what amenities and necessities they could squeeze into them. Hook up a commercial grade two-five rating fusion reactor, put it near a water source and the damn things could give a family of five a comfortable home. The only real work came if the family wanted to personalize the exterior and interior – which they would do on their own budget.

He looked at the mass reading and was about to send it to the CIC when it changed by two kilograms into the positive and settled down to where it had been, and was that a cough he'd heard from inside the pallet or just his imagination. It took a serious effort of will not react at all, and he didn't know if he was successful at all, he just continued whistling, sent the data to the CIC, but opened a redflag e-mail, typed a brief message and sent it along as well. He sincerely hoped it was just him turning out paranoid, but that zero-tolerance vigilance in the Terminus was a very healthy quarian attitude that the Covenant embraced or it would be more accurate to say re-embraced. It was no different really than when the SLDF had to operate in the pirate infested eastern Periphery of the Human Sphere.

He kept walking to the next pallet and continued the inventory. He wanted nothing more than to gather his colleagues and get the hell out of the cargo bay and lock them all down, but it was out of his hands now.

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**CIC, SCS _Sostratos_, en route to Tasale Relay**

"What? Explain."

"Captain, the crewman reports possible boarders secreted within the cargo containers in Cargo Bay One. The weight sensors reported an anomalous change while he swore he could hear a cough as well."

Captain Florencio Gainer thought for a moment, his mind whirling. "I thought all those newfangled lifesign and security sensors were supposed to detect this?"

"Clearly it isn't infallible, Captain. They work by detecting the fine neuro-electric activity of an organic being, shielding from sensors that sensitive isn't easy, but not impossible and it's not something just any pirate has."

"So someone wants to Trojan horse us," Gainer scoffed. "Sensors. Have you got anything unusual out there?"

"No, sir. Standard traffic for the system that we can see, nothing within active sensor range," came the reply.

"They won't attack within the system, Captain. Illium spaceguard would be all over them as well," opinioned the XO. "Our stowaways, if they're actively hostile would only attack once we're on the other side of Relay, in neutral space."

"How long until we reach the Relay?"

"Forty minutes, Captain."

"Send the following encrypted orders to all hands. Get all our people out of [i]all[/i] the cargo bays quietly and lock them down, prepare for emergency decompression, also alert our marine detachment, Code Bounty. All crew to general quarters ten minutes before we hit the Relay. I want us looking clueless and a sitting duck, but in reality ready to spit fire."

"Understood. Captain, I have a suggestion about the Relay transit…"

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Master Sergeant Aimee Varon held up a power-gauntleted arm to halt her platoon just around the corner from the main corridor that led to the large doors of Cargo bay one. Her Nighthawk's HUD had a direct visual feed of the cargo bay centered on the suspect container pallet. So far the CIC had reported no suspicious activity from it, or any of the other bays. That would either change in the next ten minutes or they were being rightfully paranoid and this could just be considered another drill – and Crewman Lynne would get a verbal good-boy instead of a commendation.

She held up two fingers and gestured to advance. Half her platoon moved down the corridor to guard the other way – if there were boarders they were not getting out of her vice. She keyed her radio three times in quick succession, and got two clicks in reply. Her platoon was the only ones on board with Power Armor, the other marines covering the remaining bays had to make do with Covenant issue combat hardsuits – which were essentially copies themselves of the heavy hardsuit armors worn throughout the galaxy, except using Covenant material sciences.

_"Attentian all hands, Relay traverse in two minutes. Relay traverse in two minutes."_

Aimee let go of her Mauser and put her left hand on the zero-g railing. She heard her squad do the same behind her.

_"One minute."_

At this point she didn't know whether to wish for a good fight or dread it, as she and her squad were putting themselves into the jaws of combat – there was no telling what could erupt out of that pallet and the ever real possibility of losing her people. She let her weapon dangle on its sling to tap on her Armor's omni-tool, enabling a com circuit with her platoon. "Ladies and gents, get ready. Check your angles and no matter what comes out of that crate, stay in your fireteams and look after each other's backs."

"Yes, ma'am," was chorused back to her.

_"Relay in five…four…three… two… one…"_

Everyone lurched slightly as the ship was flung through the corridor of massless space-time that stretched for thousands of light years. Aimee loved a Relay – none of the TDS crap and it made KF Jumps look positive pedestrian at least in terms of range.

Her eyes focused on movement in the HUD feed, a hidden door disguised in the natural seams on the side of the container opened and…

"Well, it looks like we've got some stowaways, boys. Very well armed ones too... and big surprise… they're batarian, though they've got a turian or two with them as well."

"I suggest we give them a warm welcome, ma'am."

"I agree, Corporal Cortez." The ship lighting immediately changed to a deep blue.

_"All hands, battle stations,_" the totally unnecessary announcement resounded throughout the corridors.

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**CIC, SCS _Sostratos_**

Florencio resisted the urge to play with his moustache and smile like some cheesy villain out of a vid, so he settled for merely smoothing it out with thumb and forefinger while his eyes gleamed in mirth. It seemed he would have to write out two commendations after this was over, Crewman Lynne and his XO.

The holotank told the story.

The _Sostratos_ had emerged from the local Primary Relay with a drift of over a hundred thousand clicks. This left the small fleet of three light cruiser ships and two dozen fighters hanging five thousand clicks z-plus relative in a trans-relay ambush position with no target.

"Someone in Illium Spaceguard gave them our flight schedule," he declared with a scowl.

"Highly likely," his XO nodded.

"Tactical analysis."

"One cruiser is a turian _Eldor_ class light cruiser, the other two are indeterminate but the computer has a sixty percent hull configuration match to the batarian _Thegon_ Class. These ships generally have a one three six five kms spinal gun, with one nine five kms secondary's in its broadsides. I'm getting no IFF signals. Hold one… Captain, Marines report ambush of boarders successful. They have suffered only light injuries, no fatalities."

"Understood, XO. I want a max range broadside course plot on those cruisers. AMS to fire ballistic screens on fighters."

"Captain, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that we could easily escape…"

"We could, but then that would leave these scum free to try and hit us in the future, when we might not get so lucky in seeing the ambush beforehand. And besides, the League didn't run from pirates, we burned them from the void, the Covenant will do the same."

"Yes Captain," the XO's narrowed with determination. "Pirate fleet is changing vector to intercept us."

"Passive ECM to full."

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_Sostratos _orientated herself and her engines went to max combat acceleration of five hundred gees bearing straight towards the three pirate cruisers. This surprised the pirate commanders. The Covenant ship was near dreadnought size, but it looked nothing like a warship and clearly didn't have a spinal gun, it was clearly a merchant ship. It's long rounded, bulbous shape clearly meant it was a cargo ship, and it would have at best have anti-fighter defenses and broadside guns meant to fend off frigates.

Their employer wanted the cargo, but their primary objective had been to try and take the ship intact and the humans on board as prisoners – the useful ones would be interrogated on technology and put to work, while the others would go on as hard slave labor. The men they had smuggled on board had clearly failed or at least they were still in the process of fighting on board.

Yet the human cargo ship was clearly approaching them on a combat vector, it was madness! Were they going on a suicide run? Whatever the case, they clearly had fight on their hands.

The cruisers oriented their bows towards the onrushing Covenant ship but the range was still way too long and the fighters would get there first anyway to deliver their disruptor torpedoes which would deal nicely with the cargo ship's barriers and allow the cruisers pin-point shots to disable it when it came within effective range.

The cargo ship stopped accelerating at this point as the fighters reached one hundred kilometers from target and… turned its broadsides to face the approaching fighter threat!

Huge bays opened on all the cargo ship's primary approach angles and muted flashes from within preceded the release of a wall of tiny high velocity slugs towards the fighters. The timing had been done perfectly. The fighters had too much closing velocity at this range and only those with the fastest reflexes managed to orient and apply engine burn to try to escape the wall. But it was too late even for them. Just like that every fighter exploded with brief flames and flashes of light in the void. Not a single craft had managed to release a torpedo.

"They clearly expected the usual short range GARDIAN array," Florencio mused.

_Sostratos_ reoriented so its engines faced to relative port side and began applying controlled max thrust bursts.

The pirate commander swore. That was no bloody cargo ship… yet their sources on Illium was clear that the human ship had picked up nearly sixty thousand tons of cargo! It was fighting and acting as a proper warship nevertheless… and ballistic GARDIAN was antiquated! Yet these humans somehow…

_Sostratos_ reached ten thousand kilometers distance and its course was now relative to the formation of three light cruisers that it would come no closer, but would maintain the distance for a total of three minutes before they would loop away.

The two nose bay Naval Lasers tracked their distant target at a range that would've normally been impossible against another human ship with modern Electronic Warfare as the Covenant defined it. Targets would normally only come close enough for EWOs to accurately discern shots at seven thousand kilometers. The pirates had at best turian analogues of such systems in their _Eldor_ Class, but they didn't know how to use it beyond turning it over to computer control and let it run automatically and it only worked on the radar, ladar and microwave bands. Covenant ECM worked in nearly the _entire_ electromagnetic spectrum, with only the high band gamma rays being as yet beyond the capability of their technology to reproduce and influence reliably on a warship platform.

Two beams of invisible coherent light stabbed through the void and hit the turian pirate cruiser first. Two plasmatic fountains seemingly just erupted for no reason from the fore armor belt and nearly four and half tons of armor vaporized and was ablated off. _Sostratos_ brought its fore left bay to bear and two more beams of light stabbed through the night. The gunnery, being done by Amaris War veterans, was spot on and drilled further into the cruiser before utterly obliterating the fore part of its spinal gun and atmosphere started to spill out of the breaches. Now the port bays were facing the enemy and they spoke as well.

The light cruiser was torn apart from an internal explosion, and peeled apart like a bullet striking an apple. Large debris soon impacted on the kinetic barriers of its fellow, straining them quite severely. For while the velocity was low, the sheer mass of it was considerable.

"So nice of our enemies to carry such volatiles as antimatter within themselves," Florencio grinned. "And such sloppy fleet formation, tsk, tsk."

"We're being painted, Captain. Lidar and radar."

"Confuse them, and alter course."

To the gunners on the two modified batarian cruisers they were getting good returns on active systems, they were about to fire off their spinal gun slugs for a deflection shot, when radar flatlined and lidar returns were blurred.

'You still have optical and their course plotted! Fire, damn you!'

The pirate gunners were about to trigger their main guns when suddenly, bizarrely there were three, no _four_ human ships in their optics. Even passive infrared was confused. Had there always been four ships and did they have stealth in space?

"Just fire!"

Slugs started to shoot from the cruisers, one every three seconds and at this distance they would take over seven seconds to reach the human ship or ships? It might as well have been an eternity for the maneuvering rates, decel and acceleration of mass-effect capable ships. The ten kilo slugs missed and where a hit was reported it seemed to do no damage whatsoever.

The real _Sostratos_ within the obscuring cloud of electromagnetic radiation retaliated with a full port broadside of six naval lasers. The batarian light cruiser staggered under the combined blow as tons of armor ablated away and in one case a lucky shot managed to hit a fault in the armor belt, from where it had been modified so the ship would not appear to be batarian. The beam sheared off the entire right engine assembly, where the futilely maneuvering cruiser left it behind when its lateral momentum carried it to starboard, while the engine assembly kept its previous momentum.

The cruiser pushed itself z plus frantically to avoid its own anti-proton engine and applied opposite thrust to bring its bow back on target. The warrant officer in charge of the fore left bay saw an opportunity and used his own initiative to take another shot before _Sostratos_ would rotate to bring it's starboard bays to bear on the last cruiser.

A single laser beam shot into the night and hit the anti-proton engine as it passed three hundred meters under the listing pirate cruiser. The antimatter annihilation of a cruiser's entire port engine pod created a massive flash of light, followed by a shockwave of particle radiation that utterly overwhelmed the ventral barriers before it crashed into the ship itself. The nervous systems of the entire crew seized up and they were all dead not a moment later as their hearts and brain activity just stopped.

By now the batarian captain of the last pirate cruiser was beginning to consider FTL retreat. They had clearly stumbled on an opponent that all indications had said would be an easy target, but it had been anything but. A human Covenant _cargo ship_ had utterly defeated two cruisers with what had clearly been lasers of frightening power and range, weapons that barriers didn't do anything to stop.

The order was on his lips to go to FTL, but he realized with a sinking feeling as the Covenant ship brought its fresh broadside to bear that it would take the FTL plotter at least thirty seconds to come up with the most basic course, unless they blindly engaged the engines… they would have a slim chance at escape, if they didn't power themselves directly into a planet, asteroid or the local sun.

"FTL now!"

"But sir…"

"Fool! Do it now!"

Too late.

The aft bay of the _Sostratos_ fired, followed by the aft starboard bay, then the right broadside, and finally the fore right bay as each section came to bear. The result was a brief conflagration of fire from the internal oxygen supply before even the debris of the light cruiser was further annihilated by multiple antimatter containment breaches.

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**CIC, SCS _Sostratos_**

"Bring us about and to a relative stop, launch small craft, we're to remain at battle stations. I doubt we're going to find survivors, but I want to look for any black boxes and I want evidence for analysis to bring home."

"It'll take a while to do so, Captain. Any black box that survived is surely on a delayed reaction before it begins broadcasting an 'I'm dead' signal. And the mess of radiation that's out there now…"

"I know, XO, but we have to at least try."

"Captain, I'm getting reports from sick bay that we have managed to save four of our stowaways."

"Excellent, put them in the brig as soon as they are healthy enough, I want them ready for a CNI interrogation by the time we get home."

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**Flag Admiral's Quarters, SCS _McKenna's Pride_,**

**Strana Mechty**

**Lesti System,**

**Sigurd's Cradle**

**22nd June 2795**

Aleksandr threw the holopad onto his desk in anger and glared at the image of the lush world below. He had just read CNI's preliminary findings report on Sostrasos' battle. It was the only bright spot in a veritable litany of attacks against Covenant ships. _Sostrasos_ had been the only nominal warship that had come under attack and it had been able to defend itself superbly, but seven Covenant dropships had also been targeted. One of which had been utterly destroyed when it apparently rammed itself into the 'pirate' ship after sustaining critical damage. Others had been capture attempts that had thankfully been repulsed at the cost of nearly thirty marines. Another dropship had to be rescued by a quarian ship that had been nearby, when it had been beset by 'pirate' frigates.

"Pirates, my ass."

The weapons that the boarders had tried to use had no physical identifying markings or programming, but quarian master machinists literally redefined the word 'master' with regards to knowing everything there is to know about a machine and the elements it was made up of. It had taken such a Machinist barely five minutes of examining the various captured mass accelerator rifles to declare,_ "Most are from legitimate suppliers you can buy in Council space, available to anyone with the right amount of creds and a license. But there are a few special weapons here, modified to illegal levels, the internal programming, mass field generator, metallurgy – in my opinion, BSA. Batarian State Arms."_

"Four eyed _zerlos_!" he cussed. He activated his omni-tool and enabled a link to his secretary. "Call a general meeting of all flag officers, tomorrow. Those who can't make the journey to Strana Mechty are to attend via HPG com. All Covenant ships except for the Wolf's Dragoons are to return to Sigurd's Cradle at once with best speed – give a war warning as the reason."

"At once, Premier Kerensky."


	9. Tales of the Exodus 7 to 9

**Tales of the Exodus 7** (Written by Couch-Gamer, Edited Keiran Halcyon)

Login: TZorah

Password: ***********

Welcome Student… you may request any topic…

Accessing comprehensive timeline on the Covenant – Batarian War…

Please select media source… 'Galactic Time Magazine'

_Year 1 of the SC/Hegemony War: SC strike fleets assault various pirate operations in the Terminus Systems; primarily Batarian backed slaver groups, but also any targets of opportunity. This includes heavy assaults on several "Batarian Colonies" within the Terminus._

_The Hegemony immediately asked for Council intervention, requesting that Citadel naval assets move to attack the SC. They are denied, due to the Council's worry that such an action could boil over into a Terminus/Citadel War. The Hegemony then tried to covertly support their various pirate lackeys, but eventually this dries up do to fear and SC kill rates. Few pirate and mercenary groups soon wanted to be involved against the SC military._

_Year 2-4 of the Slaver War: The SC, having picked apart practically every dangerous pirate group near their space, and forced quite a few more into temporary "operational hiatus", begins a series of high profile attacks on Hegemony colonies, and patrol groups. SC enjoys significant space superiority, by the time the Hegemony Navy wises up, they have lost a lot of ships._

_Hegemony again try to gain Council intervention; they get the same answer. The Council secretly wanted the Batarians humbled, at least until they could exert more influence over the Traverse. The Hegemony begin a crash construction plan, trying to get enough numbers to drown the SC in ships. Discontent begins to finally "show" among the military at various levels; it was there before the war, but that was before they were deemed expendable in mass._

_Most of the fighting is between naval groups, or strikes at important Batarian fringe colonies._

_The Hegemony, trying to find a route to flank the Covenant forces, illegally open a relay in the Terminus Systems. This relay leads to the discovery of the Raloi, an avian race that was just entering a technological state equal to the 1970's Earth._

_The Raloi homeworld of Turvess was a resource rich world, full of vast mountain ranges, with over a dozen active volcanoes. The Raloi were frail, having evolved from avian gliders several million years ago. The Hegemony, however, saw only the vast mineral wealth of the planet, the majority of which the Raloi did not have the technology to access. Further was an easy source of labor, mainly the Raloi themselves, that could be enslaved._

_While the enslavement of an entire species had never been contemplated before, the desperate situation the Hegemony found itself in caused them to panic._

_The Hegemony launched a fully backed invasion of Turvess, complete with orbital bombardments of major military bases and the largest cities. This was shortly followed by an invasion force of almost four million, backed by armored brigades. With the technological disparity between the two races, most organized resistance was utterly overwhelmed. However, an intense resistance, fueled by the Raloi culture*, was constantly striking at the invaders._

_Year 5 & 6: The Quarian frigate Shalmann, performing recon for several new strikes against Hegemony backed piracy**, stumbled across a Hegemony convoy undetected. The captain decided to follow her gut instinct, and tailed them. This led to the discovery of the Raloi, and their fate at the hands of the Batarian Hegemony._

_Stunned, the Shalmann immediately escaped into FTL, and once safe stopped to send an encrypted transmission of what they discovered to the SC leadership._

_This transmission was intercepted by a Spectre, one of several sent to keep an eye on the situation developing between the SC and the Hegemony. While the Spectre could not break the encryption, he sent it to an STG team that could. The information it contained eventually made it's way, discretely, to the Citadel Council. After a heated debate, it was decided not to go public, and instead not intervene in the situation at all. While they could not punish the Hegemony without seeming to be hypocrites, they could with hold support for an "isolated conflict"._

_The SC leadership, on the other hand, was stunned. They had no tolerance of slavery, and could barely understand why it was done. To see what happened to the Raloi, to see an entire race enslaved, was almost inconceivable to them. While the Quarian half of the equation was revolted, angered, and disgusted, they were the cooler heads. The former Star League in Exile was in an uproar, full of righteous anger. This anger was harnessed, and plans were laid for the a full attack._

_Major SC invasions were launched a little over a month later, using tactics perfected over the last two years, as well as information gleaned from their intel sources. Major strikes were aimed at strategic colonies, mainly in the resource rich Traverse. These colonies were relatively new, and were easy to gain control of._

_But this was merely a side note to the massive Quarian battle fleet that struck the Hegemony occupation fleet over Turvess. While their human allies engaged the Hegemony head on, the Quarian battle fleet slammed into the occupation fleet, tearing it to pieces in less than an hour. Only a few of the ships managed to flee to FTL and report back to the Hegemony._

_The liberation of Turvess was lead by a group of volunteer infantry wearing the Mark IV Renias vas Stria/McKain tactical powered armor, which would earn the name "Liberator" during the campaign***. These suits were worn by the SC's elite special forces as they struck Hegemony CnC all across Turvess ahead of the main invasion. This was done in order to make victory easier, and to limit collateral damage, as Raloi infrastructure was barely standing as it was._

_While not as advanced as the Mark IV quarian version****, the liberator powered armors performed incredibly well, and soon became symbols of hope to the Raloi. The full invasion force landed soon after, backed by a full division of mechs, and began a slow, but systematic sweep of the planet._

_The Hegemony made headlines across Citadel Space when they demanded immediate Citadel intervention, under the mandate that this was a full invasion of Citadel Space. With the information they had of Hegemony wrong doing, the Council could not intervene. If they did, the SC would simply reveal the information and deal a blow to the Citadel Council's image. Instead, they declare a state of "limited war" between the two, advising(but not restricting) traffic from the region, and sending heavy patrols in order to maintain neutral trade routes. The SC agreed not to target any non-Batarian ships, so long as they are not hostile._

_Hegemony leaders were completely furious, nearly breaking ties. Major naval assets were horded near the core worlds of the Hegemony, supposedly for a "big push". After months of having the fleets heaviest ships sitting idle while colonial pickets fight a guerrilla war in the colonies, military dissent began spiking. The Batarian Hegemony is content for now, however, as the resources they managed to strip from Turvess were significant, and most of the Quarian part of the SC fleet was now holding over the planet, providing support for the liberation._

_Further hamstringing the SC fleet was information uncovered during a attack on a Hegemony occupation center. This was the knowledge that the entire reason the Raloi were discovered and attacked was due to the Covenant's war against the Hegemony. This knowledge spread like fire among the liberation forces, and the Star Covenant as a whole in only a few weeks. This led to a grim determination to free the Raloi, and a guilty reluctance to move the ships and men assigned to help the species._

_Year 7: SC made several new major attacks at the years opening, this time aimed to draw away the Hegemony fleets from the core worlds. SC Generals and leadership were confident; the war has been a practical cake walk with few casualties and much gain. This also causes a major miscalculation, as several votes were cast, diverting resources away from the war effort due to the assumption they will not be needed._

_Hegemony military leaders make an ultimatum of the political leadership; Let us fight or be removed. Forced to act in the face of a military coup, plans were put in place, and two months later several fleets attack the conquered colonies. These fleets were backed by the newly built ships that had been steadily created and amassed since the beginning of the war._

_When the fleets are sighted and engaged by the SC battlegroups, the order is given for Operation Jugular. Several dropship fleets, backed by strike groups of warships, launch a KF attack on several Hegemony core worlds, including their homeworld of Khar'shan._

_While initially successful, ground operations soon bogged down. SC ground forces were over confident, and suffered heavy losses to ambushes. Further, the Batarian civilians also put up strong resistance; while they had no real love of their government, they hated the foreign invaders more. Operations were further hamstrung by the need to prevent damaged or destroyed tech from falling into Batarian hands; several offensives were ground to a halt when the forces had to be redirected to destroy damaged mechs and their remains._

_In space, the SC fleets found their forces heavily outnumbered, far more than they planned for. With the added weight of defending the conquered colonies and the technology used by their ground forces, the SC Navy was forced into several lopsided battles, and suffered significant losses. Further, the unexpected numbers prevented reinforcements from being sent to the core world invasions. Compounding everything is the knowledge that the new votes had diverted precious resources that were now sorely needed, and the result was several ships were now rationing food and ammunition, a situation mirrored on the ground._

_Heavy fighting would continue throughout the year, as the SC could not disengage without dooming their invasion forces, and the Hegemony could not relieve their core worlds without presenting their backs to the SC._

_Year 8 & 9: Most of the first year was fought on the ground, with sporadic major space engagements. The Batarian leadership found themselves in the midst of a major invasion, and fled to their various hideaways. The Batarian Defense Forces (BDF), formed of the various military units and civilian volunteers, fought a major defensive ground war, being forced back on several worlds and losing a few major cities. Reluctance on the part of the military, mainly do to superstition of the SC combat prowess, led to a lack of major effort to drive back the invaders._

_The SC Battalions, meanwhile, fought a shooting propaganda war. Their major attacks were focused on securing defensive positions, and discouraging the BDF from attacking._

_The one bright spot was the announcement of the complete liberation of Turvess, with the last Hegemony holdouts surrendering. Jubilation ran among the Raloi, but soon dried up as they realized a war was still being fought. SC garrisons, now retasked to help with reconstruction, were drowned in requests to help. Many Raloi soldiers, veterans of the guerrilla actions, wanted to fight back._

_While initially reluctant, the quarian/human company responsible for the Liberator Powered Armor came forward with a suggestion. A cybernetic armor, similar to the one being developed for quarian marines, would be designed in order to let the Raloi fight, boosting their combat prowess while making sure they did not suffer from contagions as they did during the Batarian invasion._

_Space had the SC and Hegemony navies jockeying for position, striking only when they had clear advantage. The SC was reluctant to lose more of their navy, which was small to begin with. The Hegemony Navy, meanwhile, had more ships. However, they suffered grievous losses, due in part to the fact that most of the newer ships were "flying guns" and little else. Main line ships were horded for ambushes, or strikes at the warship battlegroups holding orbit over the homeworlds. Another reason for the reluctance was the knowledge of Turvess's liberation, and the fears of the Quarian Armadas drowning THEM in ships._

_The second year saw the gradually increasing dissent among the military spread to, and boil over, the Hegemony's civilian citizens. Riots began to take place all over several of the core worlds, and began to rapidly spread, with the military too hampered by the invasions to really stop it._

_The Hegemony leadership tried to ignore it, repeating propaganda from their various bunkers. The military, more than aware that a full revolt would kill any chance of winning, began to desperately look for a way to get back in control, particularly the Hegemony Core fleets engaged at the colonies._

_They would be helped by the SC leadership, who saw the riots as a way to win the war without needing to actually fight it. While they could win, it would stretch their economy to the breaking point, as shortages were popping up all over the civilian sector do to the earlier resource votes._

_Year 10: The beginning of the year saw the SC invasion forces perform a "retreat" from rioting civilians. This was a ploy to urge the Hegemony citizenship to rebel, giving the image that they could do what their military could not. This retreat, read properly as withdrawal, worked fantastically. It worked so well the ground commanders actually did have to retreat from several massive mobs. One particular unit ended up surrounded for almost an hour before air units managed to bomb a hole for them to flee through. This tightened their defense line around their dropships, and allowed them to prepare for a rapid planetary withdraw._

_The Hegemony military, meanwhile, found itself dealing with and invasion and insurrection, which was compounded by desertions of military personal disillusioned by the still crooning leadership. This brought dread to the SC, as several of the desertions were main line cruisers, and they feared what pirates would do with that kind of fire power._

_Two months after the year began, the SC invasion forces simultaneously boarded their dropships, and left. The battlegroups then jumped out of the systems, eventually withdrawing the SC territory._

_The Hegemony fleets immediately rushed back to the core worlds, and used their overwhelming firepower to reassert control. This included limited orbital bombardment of major cities. The leadership emerged from hiding, only to be lined up and shot by the military as soon as they got their hands on them. Several escaped, however, and began to use their connections to begin a guerrilla war. The civilians insurrection, now called the Revolutionaries, began to plan a general uprising, sowing the seeds of discord amongst the populations. The military forces, now used to fighting giant mechs with little subtly, were ill prepared to fight a rebel movement._

_The SC fleets let the Hegemony go unimpeded, using the time to reinforce and reequip. When the executions of the Hegemony leadership was discovered, the SC used that as an opening to cease hostilities, as "those responsible for the events that led to war had been brought to justice". In reality, this was merely to give themselves some room to breathe. Their population had actually grown, but the war strained the SC's logistics. To beyond their limits, in some cases._

_Further, more and more focus was being put on helping the Raloi recover, as they had already began to introduce new ideas to the SC, and prove their worth in the few battles that had PA Raloi in them._

_War Aftermath: The SC emerged from the war a near galactic superpower, with experienced, if bloodied, troops and ships, as well as new technologies and ideas for improvement. Further, they had acquired a protectorate, and a reputation of fair play. The Raloi were also beginning to show their worth as they started to rapidly learn the new technologies introduced to them, and even take it in new directions. The Council used the stellar conduct of the SC towards non-involved ships as an excuse to gain better trade rights and deals. These were put to good use; as the SC began acquiring the resources needed to replace their losses, as well as to fully upgrade the existing fleet._

_The Quarians also saw a positive change post-war. Before, they were considered thieves and vagabonds, nothing more than riff raff that wandered the galaxy, taking resources that could be put to better use by more "important" races. The lopsided battle over Turvess, where the Quarian fleet elements achieved an almost bloodless victory over a powerful Citadel aligned race, forced many to rethink what they knew about the migrant race. Quarians who went onto their pilgrimage began to find better jobs, as well as more respect. Further, the Raloi's insistence on cybernetic enhancement gave the Quarians new opportunities for advancement in the field, and new insights from a second perspective._

_The Hegemony emerged a near shattered power, while still militarily strong, their economics were hamstrung by civil unrest, which also forced their fleets to stay within their territory. This greatly diminished the Hegemony's ability to project power and influence. The Council's decision also cooled relations, however the sorry state of the Hegemony economy meant they had to bite the proverbial bullet, since they needed Citadel supplies to feed their populations. Further, two general rebel movements were working against them. The Loyalists, led by the few surviving members of the former leadership, and the Revolutionaries, who were emboldened citizens seeking to overthrow both._

_To this day, Batarians are now rarely seen anywhere outside their own space. Most of the mercenaries who were not killed tend to avoid the Terminus, and any interactions between the two races are unfailingly hostile._

_Further, several of the vessels of the Hegemony navy that were known to have deserted have been seen in the Terminus Systems. These ships, and their experienced and professional crews, make both the Council and the SC nervous for good reason._

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**Tales of the Exodus 8**

**SCS **_**Zhang Qian**_

**Tramp Class Jumpship en route to Strana Mechty**

**Sigurd's Cradle**

**3rd April 2802**

Consciousness returned to Hannah Shepard with an abruptness that startled her. Her heart raced briefly before settling into normalcy and she sat up when the wailing sound of two little demanding voices reached her ears. She shifted carefully out of the large double bed of their quarters so as to attempt not waking her husband – how he could sleep with the racket still puzzled her – and headed over to the crib, large enough to fit for the paternal twins she had given birth to not six months ago. She thought many times through the pregnancy and especially during delivery that Steven ought to have her head examined for choosing to have two children at once – such vagaries were no longer in Mother Nature's hands after all - but the rep benefits for the family was very lucrative and now they just needed to have two more (this time via Iron Womb, thank you very much!) and they'd be the current 'perfect model family' as defined by the Covenant – they did have a Star Cluster to populate after all.

Hannah let herself be distracted by the view of FTL that was bathing their quarters in shades of blue and violet before bending down to pick up baby Katherine. The infant's cries ceased almost immediately as Hannah let her settle on her hip, but the whimpering was still there.

"What is it Katherine?" Hannah accompanied the question with the appropriate hand sign. The baby clenched her hand weakly and opened it, while moving the little hand up and down. "I thought so." Hannah opened one of the crib's sides to allow her to grab the wailing baby Ethan and carry both infants. She was surprised at this point to see Steven up and about at this point and without having to ask he took Ethan from her to keep the baby busy. "Thanks."

She removed her pajama shirt entirely and Katherine wasted no time in latching on to begin feeding. Steven had managed to calm their son down with a bottle of preserved breast milk and sat down next to her with a soft smile before they shared a brief kiss.

"I notice we're in ME FTL," Hannah stated inviting elaboration.

"Yeah," Captain Steven Shepard replied. "There's no need to be fuel efficient since we're going home. So we're doing Cruise Jumping, get us home that much faster."

"Ah," she nodded in understanding. It was technique that had been pioneered by Covenant warships seeking to throw Batarians off their trail when they went on deep strike missions. The ship after raising havoc would escape into FTL, but responding Batarian warships would always follow in pursuit by tracking the Covenant ship's light wake. While the ship was in FTL, it would begin carefully charging its KF Drive directly from the fusion reactor with VI assistance, then when the Hyperspace drive was ready, the ship would drop out of ME FTL, before Jumping in a random direction to cut off the light wake, and then resume course for Covenant space.

Of course, the same applied to a ship that only wanted to go in a straight line for home that didn't care about fuel consumption or being pursued. The five days spent recharging a KF Drive was no longer a ship just sitting at a Jump Point – but could now be spent in ME FTL, knocking light years per day off their total journey. It also helped when one of the attached dropships was a Hydrogen Collector and Refiner, but that was usually only reserved for ships with exploration duties, such as the _Zhang Qian_ – which using the Cruise Jump technique could cover fifty four light years in a week. This gave the Jumpship an effective range just short of a pre-contact Warship with an LF Battery.

Hannah was brought out of her thoughts when Steven moved baby Ethan over. She sighed at her own absentmindedness and disengaged Katherine, and placed Ethan to the other breast.

"You miss it, don't you?"

Hannah shrugged, "I can't be a proper mother _and_ your XO, dear."

Steven nodded, there was no shortage of volunteers on the ship for babysitting, but Hannah was stubbornly insisting on what she called 'proper parenting'. No child of hers would know and see more of their babysitter than they would of their mother and father. It was no doubt a product of her upbringing in a very affluent family on Terra – where both her parents had been absent for the majority of her childhood with work and the life of socialites.

"Yeah, well your replacement wishes bitterly you would hurry and get done with being a mother," he laughed gaily, remembering the rather annoying complaints from his current XO.

"Russell just objects to how it's cutting into his time playing with all the scientific data we've gathered on this voyage."

"You can't blame him really, that last star system we surveyed was amazing. It's going to keep the scientists busy for years if not decades."

_Zhang Qian _had struck the proverbial gold mine from a xeno-archeological perspective. They had found the remnants of what had been a space-faring alien culture that had spread to encompass two planets and three moons within the same system. The first clue had been the fine metallic debris field that had been pulled in by the gravity of a Jovian type moon, a field that had also refined eezo signatures within. The planets yielded the first clue as to the ultimate fate of the civilization – cratering consistent with pin point capital mass accelerator fire and limited excavations a suitable distance from them had unearthed the buried remains of artificial structures. Someone had clearly bombarded the civilization into extinction. No clues as to _who_ had been responsible had been found, but that turned out a moot point when it was discovered how old the recovered materials were. They had also only been able to scratch the surface of that civilization, and it was definitely worth sending a dedicated expedition back.

Steven flicked his fingers, "Ah yes, got a war update through the Hyper Com last night, might interest you. Better you see this now and get it over with…" He reached over to his bed table and handed over a holopad.

Hannah took it and after a minute of reading the relevant reports, her eyes lit up with excitement which quickly devolved into an ugly expression of anger. "Those thrice damned, four-eyed slaver, shit sacks! A First Contact and not only do they enslave them… fuck!... they blast nearly three-quarters of their infrastructure to rubble… just to throw cheap labor into their war machine to fight _us_."

Steven winced – one of their shared passions was for exploration and finding new intelligent sapient species to meet and learn from. It was a golden opportunity that had arisen in the Post-Contact Age, though officially they weren't exploring the Cluster for its own sake but rather 'scouting to locate garden worlds and resources to strengthen the Covenant' and if they won the gamble in finding a brand new alien race then it was kudos to them. In any event, he had already vented his anger at what had been done to the Raloi in the gym and he was certain his wife would head down to the holo-range the first chance she got in the morning.

"We're going to do something about it," he assured her quickly. "Look at this…" He tapped on the holopad.

"Shit, they're pulling the _Zhang Qian_ off her mission… redeployment to the Quarian Fleet…ah I see." The quarians were 'officially' at war with the Batarians as well in support of their Covenant allies due to the mutual defense treaty, and it was finally allowing the Flotilla to settle some scores – given the long history of quarians being targeted for slavery. The War had already resulted in the liberation of hundreds of quarian slaves being used across numerous planets in Batarian space. Even more numerous were the liberated slaves of other species and the Covenant had won huge PR points when those slaves were repatriated to their homeworlds across Citadel space.

"Yeah, they want us to pull some of their KF Boomed frigates into ambush positions for attacks on Batarians in orbit of the Raloi homeworld. They're busy organizing a liberation fleet as we speak."

"Looks like I'm going to have to go home," Hannah sighed.

"It won't be for long, dear. It'll just be a simple pick up and drop, then a retreat. Those frigates can get home through ME FTL."

"It's a jump into enemy space, Steven."

"I know, I know, dear."

"You better come home."

"I will."

"I'm not raising our children alone. You die and I'll kick your ass when I join you eventually."

"Which will not happen, dear."

Hannah slapped her husband upside the head and glared at him, "No unnecessary risks."

"Yes, dear."

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**Tales of the Exodus 9**

**Tantellia System**

**Serneeyyyk Cluster, Traverse**

**23rd April 2802**

A large sphere of infrared light appeared out of nowhere as for a total of eight seconds hyperspace intruded into normal space. It faded out to reveal the spiky cylindrical form of SCS _Athena_ and it hurriedly renormalized its mass effect fields before firing its engines to a max thrust of three hundred gees. Captain Michiya Mizokuchi, clad in naval rated hardsuit let out a breath of relief as his new _Sovetskii Soyuz II_ Class Heavy Cruiser ramped up to full acceleration. That had been the first time his ship had done the new 'standard' fifty light year jump and while it had been thoroughly tested and demonstrated successfully numerous times, there was just no getting over his own anxiety when they pushed the envelope in this manner. He reminded himself that it was just like any other physical and partially 'mental' barrier that humanity had overcome in its history – such as the sound barrier or the mere idea that FTL was possible.

"ME FTL course plotted, Captain," the XO reported from his station. "Dropship escorts detaching."

Four of the _Athena_'s dropships were released and carefully maneuvered themselves into formation. Three were _Achilles_ Class Assaults, whilst the fourth was an _Intruder_.

"Take us in."

_Athena_ and her escorts shot forward as their mass was cancelled and moved into the negative, directly on a course for the Batarian colony of Kasheldra. Michiya stared into the large holotank and his eyes caught the ethereal red sphere that represented Tantellia's hyper limit. He shook his head as he thought of the latest innovation that was in the works with regard to Hyperspace. It wasn't enough that humanity had managed to push hyperspace jumps to a new level of range, now they were trying to breach that star hyper limit.

Jump limit penetration could be theoretically done now and while it would feel damn good to demonstrate an even new mastery of hyperspace, it struck him that it was not something that should be done as a rule, unless it was an emergency time-sensitive combat mission. The safety procedure for doing it was hellishly long, you needed detailed grav map recon of your target system, and you needed to trust a VI computer to successfully calibrate the dark energy field to effectively and precisely 'cancel' out the local gravity. In his opinion, it was far safer to just hyperspace jump into a random coordinate around the star's jump limit sphere and then use ME FTL to power your way in. Any defender would still have a billion to one shot of spotting the infrared hyperspace emission and the incoming ship would be at FTL and arrive at its target before any local patrolling space force could react.

"Set Condition One, Battle Stations."

It took a mere forty minutes before they approached their reversion point and he hoped nothing had changed since the last _Bug-Eye_ report. _Athena_ seemed to stretch briefly as it dropped out of FTL and her targets were there as advertised. A generously sized space station in geosynchronous orbit over Kasheldra's equator used as transfer point for mining operations on the surface, with a wolf-pack of five Batarian frigates standing guard over the orbital space.

He wasn't so much worried about the frigates, his escorts could handle them but the ovoid space station was another story. The damn thing was nearly as big as his own ship, and whilst thankfully only toting kinetic armament equivalent to numerous small frigates, it had a lot of cannons it could point, not mention nine disruptor torpedo launchers and no doubt huge amounts of ammo.

Time to throw the dice.

"Escort group, engage at will."

The _Achilles_ Assault Aerodyne Dropships pushed their Xevex-12 Fusion Drives to six hundred gees, it was a rather leisurely speed for them, given their max thrust potential peaked at double that, but the slower _Intruder_ would've been eating fusion plasma wake if they had done that, not to mention that the Maintenance crews on _Athena_ would be grumbling for days as the _Achilles_ had a nasty habit of trying to shake itself to pieces at those accelerations.

It didn't matter much though as the Batarian frigate wolf-pack was racing to intercept, already shooting off KEW slugs in the hopes of landing lucky deflection shots.

"Torpedo launch!" snapped the XO. "Twenty seven birds. Impact in nine eight seconds!"

The range between _Athena_ and the Batarian station was just over a light second. The Covenant – Batarian War, had like all wars before, been a spur for development in long-range weaponry by the Batarians and as a consequence every major Citadel power. The Covenant, thanks to its long range laser and particle energy weaponry, meant that only dreadnoughts really had any chance of engaging a Covenant ship with close to even odds.

The Disruptor Torpedo, once relegated as a weapon only to fire at point blank range by fighters, due to the efficiency of GARDIAN point defense networks, was now enlarged considerably so it could carry a greater fuel reserve and accelerate to truly frightening speeds and huge range. It meant that by the time the Torpedoes entered GARDIAN range, that the relatively small diameter traditional GARDIAN lasers trying to intercept was the equivalent of using a Laser rifle to stop a locomotive bearing down on you.

The Covenant had had to quickly adapt to the new Batarian _Iakant_ class disruptor torpedoes. The sixty ton missiles initially had to be engaged by capital weapons. Since allowing the torpedoes to get within the effective four thousand kilometer range bracket for a fighter scale Large Laser meant that its speed was so high that even if an intercept occurred it still meant fragments of deadly debris on a course for your ship if you don't evade properly – that acted like a shotgun – though it was much easier for capital grade Kinetic Barriers to repulse. Ordinarily, capital weapons couldn't be aimed at such a small target, but VI assistance, Quarian serial number crunching computer modules involved solved that problem.

It was but a stop-gap solution, since firing capital weapons at the numerous torpedoes that could be fired would unacceptably saturate the onboard heat sinks of the defending ship. So the Covenant had to delve into the history books to find a proper solution.

"Fire counters. Laser Point Defense to standby, engage that space station with MACs until we get into energy range – keep our fire stuttered we want that place intact."

The _Athena_'s six missile launchers spewed forth smaller, more maneuverable twenty ton counter-missiles. The counter-missile was essentially a disruptor torpedo specially made to kill other torpedoes. It did this by using the space time warp as a blade to cut through the incoming torpedo – intercepting it ideally half a light second from the ship. But now her forward facing bays spoke and one thousand kilo slugs were accelerated to one thousand three hundred KMS on a converging vector with the space station.

The first signs of the battle for Kasheldra flashed into the void when particle and laser flashed across the gulf that separated the Batarian frigates from the _Achilles_ escorts. A small artificial sun heralded the outright destruction of a frigate, before answering kinetic slugs from the wolf pack was launched.

"Counter missiles reaching interceptions points, sir."

Michiya only nodded in acknowledgement staring intently into the holotank as the layered green arrow symbols that were his counter-missiles raced to stop the incoming torpedoes – displayed as small angry red deltas bearing down on the _Athena_. The symbols of both began disappearing abruptly – signifying successful intercepts. His fists clenched as only fifteen successful intercepts registered in the first wave, leaving twelve for the second wave of counter-missiles.

These were intercepted at only sixty thousand kilometers from the charging _Athena_, and only one managed to make it through.

"Forward NLs acquiring, sir…firing…"

Michiya slammed his fist onto his armrest in triumph as the last torpedo was destroyed. The Batarians had shot their wad – their launchers wouldn't cycle with another salvo before he arrived in energy range – at which point he would slag them with pin point capital laser fire.

"Those Batarians should invest in better penaids and launchers, we hardly had to even strain our heat sink capacity," he declared lightly, Michiya knew full well though that his ship's good performance against the Iakant torpedoes was paid for in blood in the past.

At this point _Athena_'s first KE slugs slammed into the barriers of the station, bringing sections of the shield into visibility as it strained to repel against the mass and energy being directed against the space station.

"Ten thousand kilometers to target, sir."

"Fire!"

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**Intruder Class Dropship** _**Chesty Puller**_

Corporal Eera Maveptis double checked her Gauss rifle and the linkage to her powered hardsuit systems. Her actions were mirrored in the crowded troop bay of the _Chesty_ as the assault marines prepared to fight in the corridors of the Batarian station. Eera knew that the four eyed bastards would fight to the last, and it was the only thing she could respect about the Batarian. She was an Asari in the one hundred and thirtieth year of her life, forty of which had been spent working as a slave and whore on a Batarian colony after her family's freighter had been attacked by pirates – her mother had put up a terrific fight – taking down five Batarians before they managed to kill her. Eera would've probably gone out the same way, if she hadn't been kept from the battle by her Turian father.

Damn, she'd never thought she'd get rid of that slave collar around her neck or feel the tingling of flaring biotics. That was until the Covenant showed up and liberated her early in the War.

The _Chesty_ shook as what could only be a slug from the space station point defense hit her barriers. Eera felt somebody tap her armor's pauldron and she turned around.

"Corporal, how long?"

Eera regarded her anxious fireteam, two Raloi in their cybernetic suits and a hardsuited young human male – all three were straight out of basic and had been assigned to her.

"The Navy first has to pull the teeth on that station, that'll take however long it takes. Just be glad you're not in one of the breach pods…"

She was interrupted when green lights flashed in the bay. _"All Marines, make ready for assault, dock in thirty seconds."_

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In assaulting a space station, with cramped corridors, bulkheads and packed with angry armed Batarians, speed was everything. They couldn't afford to get bogged down behind cover, not if they wanted to keep the space station and the valuable ores and cargo within. The first Batarians Eera encountered in her fireteam's charge into the station were actually just a bunch of service techs and they died under gauss fire before anyone could find out whether they were trying to fight or surrender. The Covenant had learned the hard way throughout the war that even surrendering Batarians liked to hide grenades on their person and had a habit of blowing it up whilst they were receiving medical attention.

Then they came up against the closed bulkhead doors and engineers slapped shaped charges against the massive panels even as other engineers turned on portable kinetic barrier airlocks behind them - in case the Batarians tried to depressurize their breached sections - it wouldn't kill the Marines but it would suck them out into space if it happened. They could hack the doors with omnitools, but again it would take too long.

BOOM!

Eera gestured to the new hole and a grenade was flung through. The resulting explosion followed and she charged in, willing a skintight Biotic Barrier to supplement her hardsuit's own barriers. Slugs pinged off her barriers as she charged and dived for cover, popping up behind it and firing her Gauss rifle immediately to allow her team to charge in, pouring more fire into the Batarians, killing two after their barriers were overwhelmed.

She made a twirling gesture with her hand, and her team began to suppress the enemy positions. Her body became awash with an aura of dark energy, feeling that she was ready she popped up and thrust her open palm forward. The Singularity arced across the dead zone between the two opposing groups, then was among the Batarians and bodily pulled them out of cover and into the air with its gravitational attraction.

The fireteam blasted their way easily through the barriers of the three Batarians before Gauss slugs tore into and dispatched them handily. The Singularity vanished causing the dead bodies to fall to the floor. More Marines poured forward into the gap created by Eera's fireteam and advanced into adjacent corridors; it wasn't long before the sounds of battle echoed from them.

There were six lines of advance that the Covenant Marines were taking throughout the space station, and in some cases linking up and relieving the surviving members of their Special Forces brethren in their _Liberator_ Power Armor – who had been inserted via the drop pods that were launched earlier. Their mission had been to secure critical sections of the station to keep the Batarians from either rendering it useless to the Covenant or in worst case scenario, trigger the self-destruct. Eera and the rest of the Platoon's job were to fight their way to the Engineering Sections as their final destination.

Eera's fireteam went down the next passage with a speed only power assisted hardsuit allowed. Here and there a firearm barked and metal slugs were absorbed by their barriers, they would get behind cover and engage in a fire fight – which was usually ended with a feat of Biotics from her. She watched another Marine team move down the passage before her. They came to an intersection, and a support gunner armed with a Laser rifle turned each way. Red light flashed off their armor as they hosed the perpendicular corridors, and the next squad leapfrogged past them while engineering specialists tossed expanding foam grenades which would instantly seal off a corridor from any Batarians looking to flank or cut in behind the line of advance.

Eera loved those grenades, for the simple fact and the security of knowing that behind her would always be friendly territory.

It was her team's turn to advance, and after a quick check of her ammo block percentage, they charged once more into the fire.

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With the Covenant now firmly in control of Kasheldra's orbital space, the ground phase was due to begin. While Batarian aerospace fighters had scrambled initially, they were met in space by the twenty fighters that represented _Athena_'s ASF complement and the _Achilles_ Assault Dropships in support. The Covenant could not do any incursion into the atmosphere around the main colony for two hundred kilometers as yet, due to the heavy concentration of AAA.

It would be easy to land beyond the AAA coverage and blast them, but once again, speed was a factor. The Covenant had previously attacked Batarian worlds such as Kasheldra only to find that when the writing had been on the wall, that a coded signal was sent which promptly detonated every slave collar in the Colony. The Batarians had quickly learned to which lengths their enemy would go to rescue and free slaves – and to demoralize and spite the Covenant they adopted such a tactic. Far from demoralizing the Covenant, it only served to enrage them to new levels and think of ways to stop it from happening again.

This was why _Athena_ and her last dropship, the _Overlord_ Class _SCS Hessen_, settled into a mid to high orbit directly over the Colony, and released twenty five, fifteen meter long expendable drop pods, each containing a Mech. Three of these were specially equipped _Exterminator_ BattleMechs that had the latest in ECM technology and computers, which allowed it to immediately begin jamming every radio, microwave and broadcast frequency in a radius of nearly five kilometers the moment the drop pods peeled off.

Inside one of these pods was a MechWarrior in an _Atlas II_ BattleMech who was rather impatiently waiting for the drop sequence to finish. The pod was currently awash in the heat of re-entry and he was looking at the timer in his cockpit which showed that it was still another ninety seconds of this before he would be streaking through the atmosphere and the thrusters fired which would slow his pod down.

Nicholas Kerensky mentally reviewed his part in the battle to come and looked forward to yet another session of blasting away at the tanks, hovercraft and infantry that would be arrayed against him. Satisfied he brought up a grid overlay of the colony below on his holographic HUD and examined it again to see if he had missed any positions where traps or strongpoints could be positioned. The Batarians had become very adept at creating all a manner of devices and traps to could bog a BattleMech down and allow Heavy Weapon Infantry Squads supported by Tanks to finish them off.

It was at thirty seconds before his pod thrusters lit off when suddenly every system in his Mech just shut itself off, except for the forward Holo. Appearing in it was the familiar face of his younger brother, Andery.

"Hello brother," Andery's voice and face was stony, a scar along his cheek that he had kept as a souvenir from one of the first battles of the War stood out vividly in the holo. "If you are hearing this recording it means that you are on your drop to Kasheldra. It also means, my dear brother, that you are about to die."

Nicholas felt the blood literally draining from his face at that comment.

"I found it in me to forgive you for setting me up in the Mutiny during the Exodus. I reasoned that family should matter, even though we didn't grow up together. Then all the 'accidents' began, a fault in my Mech's CASE, which luckily my Chief spotted before I went out on the range and what do you know, I suffer an unexplained ammo explosion in that CASE unit." Andery's adopted a mock thoughtful expression. "Interesting. Then two years later, my IFF just happens to switch off in the middle of a battle during my tour with the Dragoons, and it causes a friendly missile salvo to hit me. Luckily I'm that good that I didn't have too much accumulated battle damage or I would've been dead."

"I won't go much further into the other incidents since we don't have much time left, but suffice it to say I got some help and tracked it back to you and your 'friends'."

Nicholas slammed his hand on his console in frustration… they had been so careful…how…

"Suffice it to say, Nicky, your little conspiracy to return the Covenant to an oh-so enlightened monarchic rule under yourself was blown wide open. I have to really wonder at your politics, Nicky, not mention sanity. Clans? Returning us to the most inefficient economic and primitive political system one can imagine? No. Sorry, it can't and won't happen."

"Know that I take this action with greatest regret but only for the pain it will cause mother, and whilst it will come as little comfort, your death will serve a greater purpose. Your pod will not disengage from your Mech nor will its thrusters fire, it is on a direct course for the primary power plant of the colony. Oh, don't bother with your radio, it's disabled as well."

The timer ticked past the point where normally the pod would disengage and any little hope that his younger brother's sabotage had failed died.

"Goodbye brother."

The holo shut down and Nicholas Kerensky was left in the darkened rumbling of his cockpit.

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	10. Tales of the Exodus 10 to 12

**Tales of the Exodus 10**

**Presidium, Citadel**

**Spider Nebula**

**9th August 2805**

All was dark in the vast audience hall. A huge holoscreen was blooming into the air, illuminating only the edges of all the occupants watching in the darkness. The visuals projected in the screen was shaking, blurring, the unfortunate side effect of the camera used being a visual sensor that had been mounted on a helmet. There was no sound but it wasn't necessary to deafen the ears of the Citadel Council with the heavy breathing of one of its agents. The pictures spoke for themselves.

A fierce battle was being fought in the ruins of a city. Occasionally the view would stabilize and allow the sight of combat hardsuited soldiers firing mass accelerators and laser rifles. The more bulky forms of Powered Armors with their larger weapons – rotating multi barreled Gatling Lasers scything their invisible fire across the battlefield, only visible due to the smoke from fires allowing brief glimpses of their passage. Then a massive bipedal form of a Mech came into view, numerous Power Armor soldiers stippled across its legs and back. The Mech was walking backwards, firing its lasers and particle cannons at distant targets that were advancing.

It was a holding action for a staged retreat. The visuals advanced forward in time – a few hours later and multiple ovoid dropships blasted off from the earth and arched themselves into the sky.

The holoscreen vanished and normal illumination resumed – revealing at the head of the audience hall standing behind their respective podiums the Citadel Council itself.

"What you just saw, esteemed Councilors has happened on nearly every Covenant occupied Batarian world, they've left," the flanged voice of Saren Arterius of the Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance reported. He was standing on the appellant's podium that was separated from the Council itself by a gulf of space that fell down onto the immaculate gardens on the level below – serving as a means of security in preventing anyone from physically attacking the Council while it was in session. In days gone by the powerful security kinetic fields made any portable or concealed weapon useless as well and as such the Council had often held their sessions open to the public when discussing non-sensitive issues and the expansive viewing balconies on the side were often frequented by the whose-who of the Citadel.

That had changed thanks to the advent of portable laser weaponry, and now the Council stood behind polarized sheets of transpari-alloy which would resist such a weapon, and tighter restrictions on who could come and physically watch Council sessions in person were enforced.

"So the Batarian broadcasts are true," the Asari CouncilorIphiania T'Siptis murmured.

"Yes," Saren confirmed. "I did recon of several formerly occupied worlds. The Covenant recovered the bodies of their dead and equipment and lit out."

"How clever, almost psychological act of warfare," the Salarian Councilor, Morroth, pointed out with a rapid grudging admiration, "Batarian civilian is now seen as having done what military could not. STG is reporting numerous acts of insurrection and beginnings of rebellion against old leadership and military."

"Not to mention the numerically more numerous batarian slave castes on the bottom of their social ladder," Saren pointed out. "I've seen how under Covenant-rule they were well treated, though they weren't completely liberated like alien slaves were, they were freed from their slave collars and allowed freedoms denied to them since birth."

"Now that the Covenant retreats, the military will return and those freedoms are going to be stripped away again," Iphiania breathed a hint of awe in her tone. "Then the lower caste batarians are going to rebel, resulting in a civil war, which will do what the Covenant did not have the resources to do themselves."

"It seems we can expect their absence from general Citadel space and galactic affairs to be a common thing in the future," the Turian Councilor Valin folded his arms together, before eyeing the Spectre agent. "Did you accomplish your secondary objectives as well, Arterius?"

"I did," Saren admitted. "It took a lot of time and hunting across the conflict zone, but one of my spy programs picked up chatter that a batarian unit had managed to salvage a mission killed Covenant Mech and more importantly that it's on-board Fusion reactor was intact – the self-destruct charges had failed to go off. I let them do the heavy work of putting it on a ship – before I infiltrated and hijacked it. Currently, the Mech is in a shielded cargo container at the following co-ordinates." He tapped his omnitool and transferred directly to the Salarian Councilor own omnitool.

Morroth glanced at the tool and nodded, "Thank you, Agent Arterius. Well done. You are dismissed."

"The Council will now hear from General Vyzon, Citadel Defense Fleet," Iphiania called. Saren was replaced on the podium by another Turian. General Naren Vyzon wore a black naval hardsuit with all the appropriate rank designations on his shoulders and upper arm. The old turian's clan markings on his face were quite extensive, and his mandibles were stoically still, talons clutched behind his back.

"General, what progress on your front?" Valin probed.

"I'm happy to report that refit work has finally been completed on the Turian Dreadnought _Warsong_, with five more in their slips undergoing the same at various stages of completion," Vyzon stated with satisfaction. "The _Warsong_ has the Core Static Buildup neutralization system and can now fire our own version of the long range torpedoes or LRT used thus far in the Covenant War, as well as counter-torpedoes, so theoretically we now have a unit that can operate in the new paradigm of space warfare."

Valin's mandibles twitched, "Theoretically?"

"Simulations in pitting the _Warsong_ against a Covenant Warship, such as their new Fetladral Class, are not encouraging. The observed performance of their ships, especially in Electronic Warfare means they can get more of their missiles through our defense fire fields, than we can get through to them. Let's not forget as well their crews and soldiers are well blooded now and experienced – lessons that will be transmitted down to the next class in their naval academies. So we're taking a big hit there in the simulations."

Vyzon shook his head, "No, even if we refitted every Dreadnought in the combined arsenals of the Citadel races with LR torpedoes, they're never going to be good enough to compete properly. The main spinal guns on those ships are pointless relics now, except for bombarding stationery targets or planets, which now can also be theoretically done by a properly designed LRT. We have to face that fact and move on – building a Missile Dreadnought with close in mass accelerators and eventually energy weaponry for point blank duels."

Valin turned to Morroth, "And what is the Salarian Union's progress on energy weaponry as used by the Covenant?"

"Scaling up of our traditional UV Lasers is in testing phase. Covenant materials technology very advanced, unable to reverse engineer even with samples – critical stage in manufacture is exposure to certain frequencies of precisely modulated radiations for certain amounts of time – such knowledge highly guarded. Have adopted some ideas in our trade partnership though to overcome – for example, Covenant use of a finely tuned mass effect field to imitate a laser lens effect."

"What of their particle weaponry?"

"Even more difficult, oh, could build particle accelerator," Morroth shrugged. "Militarizing it to be effective weapon, overcoming high energy loads, heat buildup, high space requirement of components… those are hurdles Covenant has had centuries to overcome. Most we could try within few decades would be large planetary defense particle cannons, situated near bodies of water for efficient natural heat sink, allows use of ground scale fusion reactors and on-site energy grid."

"That would effectively deny orbit to any invader over homeworlds or highly developed worlds, where the infrastructure and resources to build such a defense is available. Colonies would only be able to deny the enemy direct landing sites and bombardment," Vyzon deduced.

"It is gratifying to note that we are making progress," Iphiania interrupted at this point. She knew that they would spend hours talking of the tactical situation if she let them. "I would like to bring to this Council's attention that the Asari Republics have finalized our diplomatic ties with the Covenant and through them have gained diplomatic access to the Raloi and re-established a diplomatic and trade link with the Quarians."

"The Quarians?" Valin's mandibles flared in agitation.

"Their actions in the Covenant War have shown our foolishness in ignoring them for so long," Iphiania shook her head. "Their exile was self-imposed, yes, but we certainly didn't help the situation. It seems though that their Covenant allies have talked some sense into them regarding the obsession in regaining their homeworld from the Geth. They have been allowed to settle somewhere in the Sigurd's Cradle cluster. Their food production is now nearly totally independent of their liveships, and the Covenant is helping their core fleet get back up to galactic state of the art. They have also now lifted their strict population controls. The Quarian race is in ascendancy again, in a standard century or two, I wouldn't be surprised to see them at their pre-Geth War strength and even exceeding it."

"Wonder what the Geth are going to do when this news gets back to them?" Morroth rubbed his head tails in thought.

"Unless the Quarians attack in some foolish gesture before they are ready, the Geth may do nothing at all, then again we can't really hope to guess what their thinking is like." Vyzon's mandibles drooped slightly – combat against Geth was something that was high on the Citadel races military agenda as prudence dictated – and which often gave him nightmares. It was equally clear that the if the Geth attacked it would be very different from the sims that were based on centuries old data from the Morning War. Strategic planners tried their best to infer how the Geth would've evolved in the intervening time, but it was all guesswork.

"Thank you for your report, General. We will take no more of your time."

Vyzon stood at attention briefly before leaving for his ship.

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**Tales of the Exodus 11 **_(Credit to Couch-gamer for the next Tale)_

One of the things I realized during my service in the Covenant Marine Forces, and especially during the Covenant/Batarian War, was that soldiers were soldiers. No matter the species, or origin, or what walk of life you came from, on the battlefield, everyone was trying to do the same thing. Wanted the same thing. To beat the other guy, and go home alive.

The memory that cemented this... it was, oh, six? Maybe seven years into the war. We, my unit I mean, had been part of one of the invasion forces for the Batarian Core Worlds. Cy' Bali, or something like that. It had been about three months since planetfall, and we had just started to see large groups of those civilian conscripts and volunteers start showing up.

Our fire line was in a city by a river, on the main continent. Never remembered it's name, didn't seem important at the time. Now, though...  
Anyways, we had a fire line setup, and were supporting an advance into the city center. According to the plans, I learned this after the fact mind you, our advance would push all the major resistance out into the open, where the other advancing divisions would crush them piecemeal. The city would then be an anchor for the whole front to move up.

My platoon was on ditch duty. We were advancing in front of the main units, engaging advance enemy elements and triggering anti-mech ambushes. If we hit heavy resistance, we pulled back into the main line and advanced together.

As we advanced, we ran right into a heavy weapons squad. During that time, all the heavy weapons the Batarians had were hoarded in order to kill mechs, since most of their armored vehicles were already dead at that point. So we were lucky, since if we killed off the heavy weapons team, we would basically secure the area for heavy mech support.

We must have hit the motherload, though. At least two platoons worth of teams must have been involved. We were lighting them up, keeping them pinned down. They were trying to pot shot us with light arms, must of been trying to conserve the heavy stuff.

One of are guys was in powered armor, big mother of a suit with a fusion battery powered gattling laser gun hooked up to the suit. That guy was laying into them, keeping them suppressed so our guys could flank them.

Me and my buddy were on the guys left, looking for a way to flank the Batarians in the rubble. I will never forget it, man.

From the smoke came this batarian. I can't really tell the old ones from the young, but this batarian was smaller than most of the others, so I guess it was a teen or young adult. Right out of the smoke, the guy just started charging our guy in powered armor. No weapons, no armor aside from a flak jacket or something. All he had was a plastic explosive or something.

The guy just, ran. Through the smoke, over the rubble, right through the center of the fire fight, directly at the PA guy. Most of the fire from our side shifted, and...

He just kept going. He took hit after hit, again and again, but he didn't stop. I just... gaped. I didn't do anything, just watched. I think... I think I saw his spine, through a hole in his back. Maybe it was due to a laser hit, or maybe the insanity of what he was doing was making me see things. Somehow, he made it. Just as he ran up to our guy, someone shouted. The PA guy turned, tried to bring his gun up, but the batarian was too close. He jumped, right on the guy, and jammed the explosive right onto the PA guys helmet.

Mark Four. I will never forget that. Why? I saw it on the armor, through the hole in him, right before the explosive blew. I don't know what happened after that. I was out of it, big time. When I came too, I was being carried by two of our guys. The explosive was powerful, like demolition charge powerful. As I was dragged, I saw a meter deep crater where the PA guy and the batarian used to be.

That guy... with that one charge, he managed to completely stop us. It stopped the whole front, which stopped the whole planned offensive. One guy changed the whole war.

I can't remember ever seeing any greater acts since; ever, really. I thought about that guy, why he did it. He was just trying to stop us, save his buddies. Just like I was, like we all were.

_**From "Through My Eyes: A soldiers View of the Covenant /Batarian War" by Corporal James Armes. Armes book would go on to become a best seller across Citadel Space. The book would also spark an entire genre, as it success would cause a large number of other soldiers, scientists, and public figures began writing their memoirs and biographies.**_

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**Tales of the Exodus 12**

**SCS **_**McKenna's Pride**_

**High Orbit of Strana Mechty, Sigurd's Cradle**

**July 3****rd**** 2825**

Admiral Rael'Zorah vas Rayya never failed to experience a thrill of awe up and down his spine whenever he walked on the Covenant's flagship. Its size, its power and even more importantly its people. It was always refreshing to walk onto a professionally run naval ship – something that the Quarian Migrant Fleet had lost when they had had to turn their ships into homes and were only now in the process of relearning. There was no cramped conditions, no children running underfoot, no din of gossiping and talking civilians – only the hurried purposeful walking of professional spacers.

He was of course, not alone and was flanked by two highly experienced Quarian Marines in combat hardsuit who in turn was accompanied by two Covenant Blackheart Special Forces in their typically all black and very intimidating _Paragon_ Power Armor with void black helmets that protected the identity of the soldier. It was overkill for just his 'safety' in the heart of Covenant might, but he had come to understand that humans seemingly just didn't have that concept in their vocabulary or they were just paranoid.

One of the Blackhearts stopped at large yet nondescript door and tapped the holo-controls.

"Enter!"

The Blackheart entered first and in a droning disguised voice announced, "Premier McEvedy, Admiral Zorah."

"Yes, yes, come in," the female voice instructed.

Rael entered the rather expansive office of the most powerful woman in the Star Covenant. It was as if he was walking into the middle of an alien green forest, though with a synthetic floor slapped in the middle of it. Sarah McEvedy herself was seated on a comfortable chair and surrounded by holo screens that vied for her attention. She ignored them and stood, walking through the seemingly solid screens which rippled around her like water, to greet him.

"Ah, Admiral Zorah, good to see you again." They exchanged the traditional human greeting of shaking hands, before the half-hug of friends, a gesture that both quarians and humans shared.

"And you, Premier McEvedy."

"How's the family?"

"Doing well. My wife got the news that she's pregnant with our fourth just last week."

Sarah laughed ruefully, "Congratulations, you quarians sure are popping them out."

"Thank you, we have a species to repopulate," Rael shrugged. "And yours?"

Sarah's mouth twitched, "My sixth is due to be birthed from the iron womb in a month, and I'm due to be a grandmother." It was a rather strange consequence that in this new age of iron wombs, life prolonging genemods that there were even 'great grandmothers' who could naturally and artificially have children. It was also forcing the Covenant to keep a careful track of their population and familial genealogy to prevent accidental unions on the same 'tree'.

"As much as I'd like to have a friendly chat, I'm here on urgent official business that has a personal element that I'd appreciate your help on."

Sarah nodded her face getting serious, "What's happened?"

Rael didn't answer, merely handing over a holopad he produced from a pocket of his envirosuit. Sarah eyed the short email it displayed, noting that it had been heavily if simply encrypted with a single use pad cipher. Then she read the email itself…

"Good God," she whispered her mind racing. Rael had just dropped something that had the potential to be either a windfall for the quarians and humanity or a clusterfuck in the making of epic proportions when word of this got out. It was the potential of the latter that had caused Rael and the quarian admiralty to approach their Covenant allies for help. "What do you need from us?"

"As much as I'd like to send a fleet or even ask you to send a Fetladral class Battleship or Missile Dreadnought, the admiralty wants to keep this as quiet as possible."

Sarah nodded, understanding the dilemma, "Not to mention the provocation of sending either into Council space. So to keep this on the down low, while still securing the situation… we will need to send the _Normandy_."

"That's what we thought would be the best response."

Sarah clutched her hands behind her back for a moment and stared at the simulated landscape around her before sitting down in her simple chair. Her hands reached into the holoscreens around her and she brought up all the pertinent information on the star system they would be sending the most cutting edge piece of Covenant naval technology into. Only a minute later she nodded and made her decision.

"It will be done Admiral Zorah, I will also assign a pair of our most elite rated Blackhearts to the Normandy to take command of the situation on the ground."

Rael visibly relaxed the tense set of his shoulders, "Thank you Sarah, not only as an admiral… but as a father."

With a firm determination Sarah said, "We'll get her out safely, Rael."

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_A/N: This is last chapter featuring 'Tales of the Exodus'. The story now moves into a more standard format as the Reaper arc begins._


	11. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**The Phoenix Massing, Salahiel System, Ekuna**

**July 4****th**** 2825**

It had been truly odd to set foot on this world for Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. It was here that the quarian estrangement from the Citadel aligned races had truly begun. Two hundred and eighty years ago, her people had come to this place seeking it as a new homeworld. They had petitioned the Citadel Council fully expecting their right to colonization of it to be ratified as a mere formality, and had begun settling on it. Then unexpectedly, when there were already a few hundred thousand quarians on the surface beginning to set up a colony, the Council declared the occupation an illegal act.

The Council turned a deaf ear to her people's pleas for reason, but the bosh'tet Council of the time obeyed the letter of the law and bureaucracy, and they didn't know the meaning of compassion. They had instead given this world to the elcor, (who they were trying to woo into the alliance at the time) who could obviously withstand Ekuna's four point one standard surface gravities far better.

The quarians had been given one standard month to leave or face an orbital bombardment from a turian cruiser squadron backed up by dreadnought support. The rush of her people fleeing from that threat was still visible on the planet's surface to this day, with all sorts of dismantled starship junk and ancient rusting habitation modules cluttering the horizon. She had initially chosen to begin her traditional pilgrimage here, because she wanted to see those hulks in which her ancestors had fled Rannoch and explore them for anything salvageable – she doubted there was anything – between the elcor and other salvagers over the centuries there was only bones of those ships left, but the amount of junk was truly phenomenal and there might be a 'nugget of eezo' somewhere in there.

Even if it came of nothing it was a worthy first world to visit. The elcor had a local population of over two hundred and twenty million and their capital city, Durawunafon, was a sight to see; it held the record for being the biggest in terms of surface area covered. Elcor culture was built on small, tight knit groups and their large size and evolution on wide open spaces meant they found enclosed spaces such as starships and the typical skyscraper construction of other species 'cities stifling. The tallest building Tali had seen thus far was a mere four floors and the open space between them was truly huge, easily averaging point eight clicks.

The high gravity also meant that there were no real mountains or tall flora, and right now Tali was cursing that fact.

It meant that hiding places were few and far between, and cover was practically nonexistent.

She was experiencing a nightmare come true.

It had all begun so innocently. She had been welcome on Ekuna – the elcor were that way – and they had been sensitive to the unpleasant quarian history on this planet, the local governor had even welcomed her personally and invited her to his family's table. She had mentioned her desire to explore the boneyards of ancient quarian starships and he freely admitted that there was currently an effort in progress to clean up the junkyards closest to Durawunafon.

This had surprised her, the sheer cost of such a cleanup operation usually stopped such efforts in their tracks, but it seemed that the local Ekuna government had been saving up for generations to be able to afford the labor and equipment costs and it had finally begun.

Tali joined the operation the next day and it was truly a sight to behold the many elcor 'workers' digging the accumulated dirt away and carefully cutting through the massive dismantled bulk of an ancient quarian cruiser. Of course, the elcor weren't really 'working' in a manner that a bipedal species would recognize. They were either standing next to the hulk, or on hovering platforms, and mounted on their huge backs were tailored mechanical arms with various tools on their ends that did the actual cutting, lasering, and attaching the thick duralloy lines to the big pieces, which dangled from huge cargo tugs that hovered in the air above. It was a very slow process and dangerous in the heavy grav environment.

She had immediately offered to join the work, and the site foreman had put her on helping to keep an active watch on the VI programming of the equipment, as a malfunction or glitch would be very fatal in the delicate work.

Then in the second week… a find that had sent the project leader into raptures of excitement, well for an elcor anyway. In digging around the hulk to unearth it from centuries of sediment, there had been discovered a large actual _Prothean artifact_ of some sort, set in a circular structure that clearly resembled the prothean architecture she'd seen pictures of. Tali had been working right next to the elcor digger that had uncovered it.

It had felt so good to be part of what could be history in the making. The elcor had promptly informed their homeworld and the Citadel of the find, calling in the best scientists to study it. Tali had naturally also sent the information on the find to the Admiralty, and encrypted her Omni-tool scans of the prothean device so thoroughly that she doubted even the vaunted Salarian STG could crack it for two years at least (she hoped so).

The elcor scientists had arrived and began their study, but it had hardly been two days of further excavation around the prothean structure when a massive dreadnought sized ship right out of some nightmare appeared out of the sky, shaped like an aquatic creature of sorts, hovering about a few clicks away from the dig sight. The thing was even bigger than a Covenant _Potemkin_ Class Troop Cruiser, and it could keep itself perfectly stationary just above the ground, Tali wouldn't be surprised if the damn thing could _land_. She had tried to do mental calculation of the strength of the Eezo core necessary to accomplish that feat…

If that wasn't bad enough, smaller cruiser ships, seemingly made to emulate the design of the nightmare dreadnought began to descend and rain death.

Death in the form of the very legacy the quarian people had given the galaxy.

The Geth.

Tali could now boast another honor, the first quarian to fight their own creations since the Morning War ended.

She leaned around the corner of the building she was using as shelter and triggered her shotgun to blast directly into shields of what looked like the standard bipedal model of geth. The sheer close range force was enough to blast it away and the elcor warrior behind her snaked a sinuous arm of his weapon rig around the same corner and blasted the geth to scrap with the heavy rifle mounted on it. The scrap fell to the earth with a heavy loud thump.

This triggered an immediate response from the geth networked intelligence.

Tali was suddenly surrounded by the five strong team of elcor warriors, protecting her on all sides with their own near-vehicular grade shielding, armor and their very bodies.

"Urgently, stay behind us," Captain Gralannan, the leader of the elcor unit subvocalized over the tacnet.

Tali did her best to ignore the near constant energetic whine of geth phasic rounds being streamed into their direction, ignore the thud those rounds made against the elcor fireteam's armor, as the bullets were only partially being stopped by barriers. She put her Machinist's fascination at the phased bullets (something she had thought was only theoretical) aside and focused on her Omnitool and her link to the VI-controlled elcor battle rigs.

Their lives were in her hands, literally. The geth was flooding the area with a sophisticated ECM that fouled the auto-targeting of the battle rigs at long range and since combat on this high gee world was all about long range, with standard engagement ranges measured in half a click, it was reducing the response time of the elcor fireteam to a torpid pace relative to a battle situation. The elcor's battle rigs had thousands of strategies and tactics pre-programmed into them – compensating for their slow, conservative psyches, which were not suited at all to the fast instinctual decisions necessary for combat. Their VI's could normally react faster than any non-cybernetic aided organic could even perceive it happening. This had seen the elcor through many a foe over the centuries.

Not the geth it seemed.

The elcor VI's had no answer to counter this form of jamming, but Tali had been trained, as all quarian machinists were, in every aspect of the geth – information that not even the Council possessed with regard to the geth network architecture and runtimes. She had in her personal database, an adaptive program, that she had been fiddling with since she was thirteen. It had started as a pet project meant to please her father in his efforts at finding an answer to the geth problem and perhaps reclaiming the homeworld one day.

It was this program that she was now interfacing with the battle rigs.

And just like that, she saw her personal radar snap back into life and display the multiple angry red blips of enemy eezo cores that surrounded them. The red dots of the enemy began rapidly winking out, and with the aid of her helmet's optical zoom, saw the entire geth squad that had been attacking them drop to the ground in various states of destruction.

She had to shut the program down at this point, to minimize its exposure to the geth as much as possible, now inputting new Lidar and radar modulations for the battle rigs to operate on.

"Cautiously, move out."

The elcor squad moved as quickly as they dared into a diamond formation around her and they resumed their trek towards the prothean beacon. Tali checked her grav compensator belt, which prevented her from suddenly weighing over two hundred and forty weight units and being crushed to the landscape – thankfully there was no damage and its charge was holding constant. Even so she kept her pace careful and measured, collapsing her shotgun and putting it in the small of her back and drawing her Covenant issue Laser sidearm.

A holo crosshair appeared on the HUD of her purple tinted facemask, helpfully showing where the sidearm's beam would hit.

It was the only real long range weapon she had.

She looked around her and felt a surge of horror and what she knew was probably misplaced guilt as they passed a number of dead elcor. They had not been any kind of warrior or soldier, just civilians at the wrong place and the wrong time. The air was filled with the din of distant gunfire and streaks of light as AA fire lanced into the sky, seeking out the geth dropships and gunships that cruised over the area. The sun was close to going down, blanching the sky in an angry dark orange color.

"Disbelievingly, this situation is…" Gralannan trailed off in a monotone. Tali's translator pinged as it interpreted what her senses couldn't see or hear, and wasn't surprised that the captain was doing his species equivalent of 'freaking out' as a human would say. She didn't blame him; she was in the same starship, so to speak. "Query, why would the geth be after the artifact?"

Tali shrugged her shoulders helplessly and only just remembered not to take her eyes away from the surrounding area and keep her laser in a ready to fire position, "I don't know, from what I saw of the prothean device… it's clearly some form of communication technology. The only thing I can think of is that the geth maybe found another one in their space, that was damaged or not functional but clearly offered a benefit if studied and reverse engineered. So when this device was found... it's all speculation, I'm sorry. The quarians might have made them, but their possible upgrades they'd applied to themselves up to this point has been a mystery."

"Grudging admiration; it's clear that their research into capital vessel technology has been far superior to even the turians."

"Yes," Tali gave a brief glimpse to the monster dreadnought in question. Her suit's optical scans had been constantly on since she had gotten over the shock of that things arrival, saving and encrypting the data, just in case she was killed. The Admiralty would have a record of what happened here when whoever they sent in response to her distress call arrived. "We're within a click of the dig site…"

Her suit blared a warning as the whole squad was hit with hostile targeting radar. Six hundred meters away, distant streaks of smoke shot up into the sky and Tali felt her heart skip a beat with fear. Her facemask's optics zoomed in and identified a geth squad carrying hand portable compact missile launchers. They fired three times and just like that eighteen anti-materiel missiles were homing in on their position. She had never worked an omni-tool so fast in her life as she fired up the geth adaptation program.

The elcor battle rigs trained their sinuous arms that carried low caliber mass effect machine guns – meant for suppression of the enemy – into the sky and carried out their other purpose. A storm of grain sized metal slugs streaked out.

Missiles exploded in small groups as they encountered the fast moving wall of metal thrown by the defenders. One of the elcor trained his primary cannon on their assailants and threw shells downrange as fast as his weapon could cycle. Her own omnitool calculated that the enemy was just barely within effective range of her laser pistol and helpfully laid out a targeting reticule for her to aim at. She knelt down for a more stable firing platform, held her breath and exhaled, depressing the firing stud on the handle.

The invisible beam traced itself across the distance and ignored the barriers around her target and hit it in the upper right shoulder. The purple painted armor sizzled red before vaporizing, and arm became useless, remaining barely attached. Tali berated herself for her last moment twitch, having once again anticipated a recoil that wasn't coming. She tried her best to relax before firing again. This time scoring a hit in the lower abdomen that cored straight through her target, finally rendering it non-functional.

The shockwave of a missile explosion bouncing off an elcor kinetic barrier nearly sent her flying out of the elcor squad formation. As it was, she collided with another elcor and had the wind driven out of her lungs from the impact.

The elcor in question took his sweet time help her to her feet and his battle rig handed her fallen laser pistol back to her with its fine manipulation arm.

"Thank you," she offered weakly before resuming the fight, sending only two more laser shots downrange before the geth squad was finally destroyed.

The final click to the dig site Tali would recall as longest walk she'd ever had. It felt like lifetimes were passing in mere moments. The fear and sadness as an elcor soldier was killed right next to her, the terror as yet more missiles and now even passing geth dropships would target them, either directly or by raining down armed geth platforms. It was a testament to the designers of the battle rigs and the elcor that they made it to the dig site at all, though with two elcor killed in the process.

Tali crawled up the small hill and let her omni-tools mini-fabricator flash create an expendable yet simply camera drone, and threw it over. Better to loose fabricator mass and energy than a head, was what her instructors had constantly told her. The results made her heart sink.

She stood up without fear and regarded the ancient circular structure below with nothing in it.

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Bipedal geth platform #23231 moved fluidly without pause in its advance to investigate an anomaly that a passing dropship's sensors had found. The dropship couldn't give more data due to the need to remain in motion to evade the elcor air defenses. It's proximity to the dig site that had contained the device that Sovereign needed had caused the local consensus to detail '231 towards the strange EM fluctuation. Processing power was currently prioritized with combat of hundreds of bipedal platforms and dropships – meaning this task had fallen to '231, who just happened to be the closest to the anomaly.

'231's pulse rifle was raised when it entered effective visual range of the location of the anomaly. It was a small gray device partially buried in the earth, which its sensors registered as pulsing an oddly modulated EM signal, reminiscent with a…

231 was the closest a collective AI intelligence could be to 'surprised' when its programs were hurriedly broadcast out of the failing platform with the last remaining backup power supply.

The platform had been destroyed when four pulse laser beams tuned to be invisible in the atmosphere of Ekuna had promptly reduced it to a glowing scrapheap from a kilometer away.

Ethan Shepard didn't bother to confirm the kill and neither did his twin sister, Katherine. The two elite Omega ranked Blackhearts and their two lower rated Sigma class teammates, Donny Richmond and Cassie Henderson, had lowered their Mauser 960II Laser Kinetic hybrid assault rifles and were already bounding away at a constant twenty six kmh in their Paragon Power Armors. Engaging in the age-old practice of relocating after firing a long range shot, which proved prudent when shells started to rain down on their previously occupied spot.

"Networked intelligence, nice response time," Donny commented over the line of sight laser com link that connected the four Blackhearts into a completely secure and relatively undetectable tacnet.

The Blackheart unit approached the only building closest to the dig site and using it to gain some cover and observe the situation. Their primary objective was still pinging a signal briefly on the channel she had mentioned in her distress call, and its location was seemingly smack damn in the middle of a geth siege.

Twenty three bipedal platforms, armed with a mix of kinetics and missile weapons, were peppering the digsite with fire. There were two elcor soldiers with their impressive battle rigs dug in the criss-crossing trenches and their weapon arms were poking randomly out of cover to return fire. Then on occasion a red beam of a Covenant laser sidearm would strike out at the attackers.

"Good, our objective is still alive," Ethan commented.

"How are those elcor being so effective at fighting the geth?" Donny wondered. "We've passed nothing but massacred troops."

"I'm sure Miss Zorah has something to do with that," Katherine answered, "they're holding their own for now, but it's only a matter of time until they're overwhelmed."

"Then let's get them."

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"Grimly, we are being overwhelmed, our heat sinks can't keep up. Missiles are expended."

Tali only nodded as she squeezed off two shots from her laser that felled another geth, bringing her tally for the battle thus far to twenty two, but the red flashing light on the back of the sidearm noiselessly told her that the last of her charge had been expended. Ducking back into cover of the dig trench she collapsed the sidearm into its compact form and primed its self-destruct. It would only go off when her omnitool detected her heartbeat flatlining. She brought her shotgun to the fore and could only keep an eye on the hostile emissions getting ever closer to their position.

Fifty meters was its useful range, and the ring of geth was still two hundred meters out and closing. The only effective fire was now coming from Captain Gralannan and his subordinate. Their battle rigs had not come through the fight thus far unscathed… the geth were machines after all, and their marksmanship was spot on. Many of the rigs various arms were useless with damage.

Every time they had whittled down the attacking geth, another dropship would simply come around and drop another volley of bipedal platforms to replenish their numbers. It had soon felt like they were just delaying the inevitable and her fighting spirit was leaving her steadily. In that moment, she cursed her own decision to go on Pilgrimage. It was a dying tradition, one with no clear benefit except for the experience gained and possible Intel sent back to Noyvi Sad – the unofficial quarian 'colony' in the Sigurd's Crade cluster (though an ever increasing number of quarians referred to it privately as the new homeworld). Now she was going to die for it.

The first geth crossed into her range.

She popped up and fired in one move, exactly as she was trained by quarian and human drill instructors. Its shield flared but didn't go down. She sent another shot downrange and cursed as her gun overheated, but didn't let it deter her as she raised her left arm and sent a directed EMP from her omnitool that violently overloaded the geth's shields. The geth was suddenly crumpled to the ground and she noted with satisfaction that she must have gotten the platform's grav compensator doing that.

She didn't linger, and moved along the trench, waiting until her Overload recharged and popped up. She released another Overload on a geth, and followed it up with a spread of shotgun slugs that wrecked it. Phasic slugs hit her barriers at this point and she yelped in pain as the slugs were only decelerated and not stopped cold. It hit her low profile armor with the force of a heavy punch and knocked her off her feet.

She shook her head to clear it of the cobwebs and checked her upper chest. The deformation was there but thankfully no penetration, though her left lung was protesting with pain. Tali gritted through it and wearily got her feet under her again. She had had thick elcor armor to protect her before from those horrid rounds, no longer.

"Concerned urgent worry, are you all right, Zorah?"

"Fine…urghh… I'll live, I think…"

"Factual statement, you would be more productive at this point working with our battle rigs…"

Tali nodded and wearily hobbled over to Gralannan's position. She gave a cry of alarm though when she saw a diagnostic of his battle rig on her omnitool. It's weapons at this close range reverberated through air and vibrated her body sympathetically with each shot. "It's not going to last much longer! Your heat sink efficiency is dropping and you're ripping through your ammo block on the heavy and assault rifles way beyond…"

"No choice."

Tali shook her head and scrolled to the other surviving elcor soldier's rig, who was keeping the other section of the battlespace secure…

Time seemed to slow down so much, she'd thought that somebody had installed an ocular synaptic processor in her head when she was asleep. There was no time to scream a warning to either Gralannan or his teammate. She could do only one thing and dialed Gralannan grav compensator way up, enough that his mass was reduced to practically nothing… and dove for his flank, knocking him down and deeper into the trench.

The world turned white as the power regulator of the elcor soldier's battle rig 'gave up the ghost' as a human would say.

But it was not the end…

Her envirosuit's sound pickups screeched before the VI muted it automatically but it left Tali near deaf anyway. Her barriers had been drained halfway to stop the overpressure from the explosion, and by her suit's time, only a minute had passed. She pulled herself away from the collapsed Gralannan, who still seemed conscious, thank the ancestors. A look at her radar showed that the geth closest had clearly been destroyed or damaged, but there were still active signatures out there, which were relentlessly closing.

If only to add insult to injury… she heard yet another geth dropship approaching.

"Keelah! Bosh'tets! Fuck!'" she screamed in frustration, even adding a human expletive. Like a program fulfilling its function, more geth troopers were dropped from it.

She looked at her shotgun clenched in her hand and back up to the enemy. She might not yet be an adult in the eyes of quarian law, but she'd be damned if she was going to die cowering in this ditch with geth towering over her.

Tali double checked her weapon, adjusted her grav compensator to make her weigh only a few kilos relative, and charged, sprinting as fast as she dared, screaming in anger. She ate up the distance between her and the geth line in seemingly moments, firing shot after shot as fast as her heat sinks could cycle…

The nearest geth troopers dropped to the ground… if she had been in any rational state of mind she'd have seen that it wasn't her shotgun achieving the kills…

An explosion overhead dropped her unceremoniously on her buttocks and snapped her out her madness… a large dark shadow was looming over position…

Her mind instantly recognized it as a Covenant ship… highly modified Titan Class, just under two hundred meters long, sleek aerodyne wings and ailerons mated to a large bulky body, the thick hull seemed to be changing color in front of her eyes.

The crash of debris falling to the earth let her see the pieces of what was a geth dropship fall to the ground. Then the ship began to fire at the geth troopers – with what had to be the human LB-5x cluster munitions autocannons that were set in over-under barrel turrets all along the wings of the ship - with full fury in a storm that swept aside the enemy like the hand of an angry God.

"Miss Zorah!"

She was startled at the sudden intrusion of the voice into her helmet and saw a sight that almost caused her to slump over in relief. Four humans in the latest Paragon Power Armor rushing over to her position, yet more hardsuited soldiers doing grav belt assisted combat drops from the ship and hurrying over to Gralannan.

"Are you injured?" the deep distorted yet clearly male voice of the leader of the squad, who she saw wore a B-Omega symbol on the armor with the rank insignia of a Commander. '_Dad, really? You didn't!_' she thought to herself in exasperation.

"Fine for the moment, though I hope you have a good Doctor on that ship, Commander."

"There is. Our orders are to secure you to safety, Miss Zorah."

"And retrieve my scans of the prothean artifact, if not the artifact itself."

"That would be ideal."

Tali nodded and let herself be led off to ascender cables that was hanging from the ship above. She was clipped into a self adjusting harness and was whisked in the air and swallowed by the infantry drop hatches.

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**453****rd**** Galactic Encyclopedia**

**Humans (Terrans)**

Originating from a dense cluster of colonized worlds and their homeworld, Terra, deep in unknown space, thousands of light years beyond the Crossroads Mass Relay, humanity is the newest notable race to enter the galactic stage. They are wholly unique, in that they are a spacefaring civilization, but had no knowledge or conception of element zero physics or mass relay technology until First Contact with the quarians.

**Biology**

Humans are a highly adaptable species with a robust physiology. Their internal makeup and reproductive processes exhibit typical characteristics of a bi-gendered bipedal mammal. Their genetic diversity is also much greater than any known species, showing large varieties of skin tone, eye, and hair color. This diversity also manifests on other aspects, such as intelligence, strength, ability and other characteristics. Most notable of human physical abilities, that with proper training, their stamina can defy belief; allowing them to run vast distances that would see other races using an aircar. In general they are physically stronger than a turian, but less agile than an asari and slower than a salarian.

The average human lifespan is constantly being revised, due to their program of self-imposed genetic engineering and a steady pace of new medical advances. The current lifespan that human geneticists claim is roughly one hundred and eighty years. Humans reach physical maturity at eighteen years of age, at which point they have finished their academic education and either directly enter the workforce or begin training a profession.

**History (Credit to DarkAtlan for this part)**

The famous asari Citadel historian, Arian Leshas, when analyzing human spacefaring history, is quoted as stating: "Eight hundred years of stupid mistakes, easily bruised and bloated egos, a crippling fear of genuine unity and peace, and poor long term planning."

Humanity left its homeworld, called Earth or as it later became known, Terra, more than seven centuries ago with the advent of the Hyperdrive (See below) – as a fragile and corrupt alliance of nations with radically different cultures and goals, born in the aftermath of war.

Its first attempt at civilizing the explored galaxy, the Terran Alliance, was poorly thought out and died – first by the star nation itself surrendering five sixths of its worlds because it was unable to respond to their rebellions quickly enough, and then by military coup. The successor nation, the Terran Hegemony, was a much smaller nation which dominated its neighbors by fear of force – a force enhanced by high technology. The major star nations were loosely allied in a government known as the Star League, and even had a federal military, but all still retained their native militaries.

A comedy of errors, slow interstellar communications, and poor judgment began the Reunification War, in which the combined might of two thousand worlds spent two decades trying to conquer less than three hundred non-aligned worlds on the periphery of human space – three hundred of the least developed ones at that.

Most of human history has seen constant, low-level conflict, punctuated by larger wars. Small scale skirmishing is seen as the norm, and various rules (See Aries Conventions) exist to ratify and regulate such behavior. A nobility, based on birth, has come to hold most power, and tend to demonstrate their position by piloting BattleMechs. Despite the clear nature of the BattleMech as a component of combined arms strategy, it has come to dominate the human psyche, and fill out all roles in war – even ones they are not remotely suited for. (see Scout Mech and LAM)

The Star Covenant, born from an idealistic self-imposed exodus of the now defunct Star League military, an escape of the constant warfare of their species, has so far refrained from such skirmishing. It did, however, begin the largest war in two centuries within fifteen years of discovering galactic civilization by defeating the Batarian Hegemony – after the latter foolishly attacked Covenant shipping with the intent of gathering slaves and technology.

Despite this violent history, though, humanity is just as capable of producing works of high culture and art that rivals anything seen in the galaxy thus far. (See Mozart, Shakespeare, Henley, Follet, Da Vinci, Pollack) And there is a resurgence of the arts as the Covenant settles down and comes into its own as a society. They are idealistic, expansionistic and regard piracy, slavery and related crimes with a passionate disdain and a disease to be purged from galactic civilization with extreme prejudice.

**The Hyperdrive and The Great Galactic Expansion**

Humanity, having no concept of mass effect or discovering element zero, has achieved space faring and other technologies wholly unthought-of by any race. In some cases, their technology is so out of context that it is incomprehensible. The most famous of which is the human method of FTL – the Kearny Fuchida Hyperdrive. (See link for a more detailed theoretical discussion), which uses levels of high dimensional mathematics as its basis that even the best asari and salarian physicists have trouble working with. Even among humans it is rare to be able to conceive the theory behind it. The only Citadel species who has shown they are capable of understanding the math, are the hanar. Understandable, as an aquatic species, they live in a constant three dimensional environment and their thinking as a result can make the leap to understand high dimensional math.

But the results of the Hyperdrive are undeniable, allowing a ship to move itself up to fifty light years in a subjective instant, leaving no light wake or indication that a ship had passed through the intervening space. With accurate enough recon navigation, a human ship could simply, without tripping any early warning sensor net or frigate picket, put itself into orbit of any world it chooses. Its range is also free from the limits of fuel reserves, as the drive can be fed with harvested solar energy from a star.

The reasons the Hyperdrive hasn't supplanted conventional mass effect FTL drive, besides the difficulty in understanding it, never mind building it, is that it requires five days of careful recharge before using again. This time reduces its utility in comparison, as the fastest FTL ships can move sixty light years in that time. The drive itself has to form the core of the ship and can take up to thirty to forty percent of its available mass.

Covenant ships though has taken the best of both forms of FTL and combined it to produce 'Mass Effect Cruise Jumping', a technique which lets a Covenant ship cover ninety eight light years in five days. Eight light years per day faster than the fastest ships in Citadel space.

The second significant innovation that humanity has brought with it is the Core Static Dissipation (CSD) technology. Previously, starships were forced to find gas giants or planets with strong EM fields to discharge the huge static buildup in its eezo FTL core. No longer. The static is now channeled away as it forms before it can build up in any way and expressed as heat within the fusion reactor, which can be removed from the starship as heat is normally vented. This minor technology, like a pebble that starts an avalanche, has caused a vast expansion in explored space over the past thirty years. More untouched garden worlds and significant resource lodes have been discovered and claimed in this short time than in the previous three hundred years combined. The CSD has also ushered in an era where conflict over previously limited resources is no longer as much of an issue.

The next evolution that the species brought with it is in the practicality and use of energy weapons both on a personal scale all the way up to completely changing how species builds dreadnought warships. The days of the gigantic linear mass drivers with ships built around them have passed due to the Covenant's capital scale energy weapons which outranged all dreadnoughts of the time (as the Batarians found out in the Covenant-Batarian War) and most species navies are phasing them out in favor of the Missile Dreadnought – which fires eighty ton tele-operated disruptor missiles which can accelerate to an average of five percent of light speed in the multi light second ranges such ships can engage each other at. (See Link for more detailed discussion on the Missile Dreadnought, Space Combat in the modern era and Capital Energy weapons)

Finally, humanity has revolutionized how any civilization engages in its most ancient practice – mining. One of the biggest exports that the Covenant has is its specialized Mining Mechs. Manufactured specific to each species which puts in an order, the Mining Mech reduces the labor and time cost of asteroid mining to levels which sees it surpassing the productivity of standard groundside mines to the point where any mining corporation which didn't upgrade its operations found itself facing liquidation and bankruptcy.

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	12. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Ethan and his squad turned and began running, whilst the SCS _Normandy_'s hull flickered and its form faded into relative nothingness behind them. He checked his grav compensator was set properly, "Begin jumping."

The jump boosters on the rear legs and back of the Paragon Power Armor flared and the squad began low thirty meter at time hops towards their next target. The flat landscape helped immensely in eating up the kilometers.

The voice of the Normandy's Intel officer piped into their helmets. _"The navpoint I've marked in your suit's computer is towards the nearby space port. Recon drones have identified what has to be a piece of prothean technology being transported there by the geth on the elcor maglev network."_

"Any chance we can catch up before they get there?" Katherine asked as they did another jump.

"_No, their head start is too big… be advised, I just monitored another player entering the field…"_

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There were many in the galaxy that looked at the elcor and saw lumbering gentle giants. A people whom were generally peaceful and even comical to a degree, what with their slow speech, deadpan delivery and utterances of whatever emotion they were feeling before they spoke. That was the opinion of the ignorant masses; anyone with a modicum of sense to study the elcor in depth knew this wasn't a race to take at all lightly and Saren Arturius knew that he was never going look at them the same way again after this day…

It wasn't enough that the _geth_ had to completely ruin his mission to ensure security for the prothean artifact.

He was now fighting something that was so out of his experience and was so _wrong_ on any level you could care to contemplate. It had all started when he had spied the geth doing something with the bodies of the dead elcor. Four trooper platforms to each elcor, which then carried them towards odd pedestal shaped devices made of cool dark metal. The platform then abruptly shot out a thick spike that seemingly _grew_ out of the device with an eerie screeching metallic sound and impaled the elcor, which lifted it effortlessly into the sky.

Saren had puzzled the odd behavior from the geth and wondered as what possible purpose this could serve? Intimidation, terror and to sap the morale of the elcor? Perhaps. He had then engaged those geth, dropping them in moments with a well placed grenade and laser shots from his state of the art and very expensive Spectre issue Phalanx rifle.

Not ten minutes later he had passed another collection of impaled elcor on those pedestals. He had no desire to really see the grisly sight again and hadn't paid much attention to them. He regretted that. Had he known then what he knew now, he would have used some incendiary grenades to immolate those impaled bodies.

Nothing prepares you to see those spikes retract, the supposedly dead elcor suddenly move on its own power, pull itself off that spike and give a growling groan that sent chills up and down the spine, to see the unnatural grey skin mottled and twisted with glowing cybernetics. The elcor's beady eyes glowed blue and emanated a menace that was palpable, then for that elcor to move with the speed of a starved rampaging varren.

Only decades of experience, instincts and his own cybernetically enhanced reflexes saved him from not only being slammed with all that momentum, but also prevented him from electrocution. As it was the EMP sent out by the transformed elcor had nearly dropped his shields completely.

Coming out of his sideways roll he unleashed his Phalanx desperately. At this close range the power of the shot was enough for his laser to core the elcor multiple times. The ground shook as all that mass of once again dead elcor flesh, bone and cybernetics crashed in the high gravity.

Saren couldn't spend much time celebrating his survival as three more of the damn things charged. He was now ruing his decision to come on this mission in the Mark X Armax Predator Hardsuit. If he'd been in his custom Spectre issue Power Armor he'd not be as worried about taking a hit from these monstrosities.

His perception of time slowed as he engaged his ocular synaptic processors and snapped off three laser shots that scored direct hits on where the elcor brain was supposed to be. Two hit and instantly dropped the elcor, whilst the third shot was slightly low and managed to burn off one of the elcor's forelegs. It slammed into the ground, but its momentum was enough that he was forced to perform another side roll to avoid getting hit and buried by a near ton of reanimated elcor.

Coming out of the roll he lasered it again, going for the braincase. His Phalanx flashed a warning on his Visor's HUD that it was on its last two shots, and now he was faced with another wave of five cyber elcor. He didn't hesitate to drop his Phalanx and grabbed his relatively more conventional HMWA assault rifle from his back. It unfolded painfully slowly to his perception and his teeth and mandibles clenched in desperation to move faster. The underslung grenade launcher fired and the smart explosive projectile detonated in the air between two elcor, rending them into flying body parts, the third got a burst of hypersonic slugs through the eye socket, but the remaining two had bracketed him and were now so uncomfortably close that he was forced into a backwards roll to open some distance.

But not without leaving the cyber elcor a present on the ground they would rush over as he continued to backpedal.

The incendiary grenade exploded, instantly immolating the elcor in flame.

That was when his suit blared a warning of hostile radar focusing on him.

_Spirits_, he was so focused on the new type of enemy…

His rifle came up and he had just one second to glimpse a squad of geth troopers who were leveling missile launchers and pulse rifles at him from two hundred meters away. There was no way he could…

The Geth squad promptly died with flashes of sparks and minor explosions before a single shot was fired.

Saren was confused for a moment before his hardsuit's personal radar, reduced to minimal range thanks to the blanket of ECM the geth had thrown over the area, pinged with four eezo emission signatures rapidly approaching. He turned in that direction and spotted the four distinctive Covenant Paragon Power Armors bounding closer on jump jets.

What the hell were humans doing here?

It wasn't enough that the Spirits abandoned geth had to come out of the void beyond the Perseus Veil Nebula. Now the Universe had seen fit to deposit even more problems on his head to deal with. Diplomacy with the superpower that was the Covenant was a tricky thing, since while officially you were dealing with humans; you were also dealing with the allied quarians and raloi. These days you also had to consider that among the Covenant there were now naturalized asari, turian and drell, all of whom were former slaves, and now the descendants of them were becoming more numerous.

Personally, Saren respected humanity, they had conviction, a martial mentality that was remarkably similar to what turians had and more importantly the will to act and embrace change not shun it – something that he felt was rather lacking in recent times in the Council and Hierarchy. Human thinking and technology had already made the galaxy a very different place than what it had been in his formative years. But their expansionism and their tendency to assimilate others culturally and politically was in the word of a Salarian STG operator he had met once, "Problematic."

Professionally as a Spectre, the Covenant was a big headache. The Council was decidedly leery of allowing or ordering any of their agents to operate as freely as they would in Citadel space or even the Terminus. Given what the Covenant did to the batarians, just because of a few minor attacks on their shipping and personnel, it was somewhat understandable.

Saren tapped his Omni-tool briefly and his Visor HUD zoomed in and he was able to make out more details on the approaching Covenant team. Two of the armors were slightly narrower at waist and the chest area curved outward slightly, indicating that two of them were female, and then his VI flagged two small symbols displayed on all their chests. '_Great, Blackhearts,'_ his mandibles twitched.

He lowered and stowed his rifle in its place on his back and backed up to where he had dropped his Phalanx, slowly reloading a fresh power pack. This let him feel somewhat better about meeting the Blackhearts, his las-rifle couldn't really compete in terms of endurance or versatility to their Mausers but he would have at least the same punch as they had.

One of the leading Blackhearts lifted their rifle into the air, parallel to the ground, hand in the centre and far from the trigger. The odd signal combined with the fact that the other three's barrels were firmly pointed down, meant that they had no hostile intent to him. He had seen enough of their battles during the Covenant Batarian War to know some of the sign language they employed on the battlefield.

The Blackheart team finally came to a stop just about ten meters away. One of the males came forward whilst the others turned with their backs to each other in a covering formation. There were no immediate threats so they could afford some time to talk.

"Greetings Spectre." Their voices were filtered and distorted, and their helmets only catered for vision via a narrow strip of mirrored transparisteel.

Saren wasn't really surprised they knew him on sight for what he was. Two predators of different species knew that they were both meat eaters, after all. He only nodded in return. "What brings the Covenant here?"

The lead Blackheart didn't answer for a few moments, "A Quarian VIP was here on pilgrimage. They sent a distress signal once the geth attack began. We have already rescued said individual, but we also have orders to investigate the geth emergence from the Perseus Veil and the possible reasons behind it. In the interests of saving time, we already know that it was a Prothean artifact. We have eyes on its location at present and it's in geth possession. It was decided that we should be diplomatic in our pursuit, otherwise we would look complicit in this attack and so we request you join us."

Saren considered what he should say to that. He wasn't a Spectre for nothing. There was a time for measured action, and when a rampant machine race that had loomed threateningly over the galaxy for over three centuries suddenly decides to show up in the broad light of day… well there's not much choice.

"Lead the way."

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Due to the fact that he wasn't in powered armor, it forced his new impromptu comrades to limit their speed of advance towards the spaceport considerably. This also meant that they were intercepted by the geth more often, in addition to encountering more cyber elcor. The humans had clearly already dealt with them before previously before encountering Saren, and had gotten over the shock. Curiously they used the underslung mass accelerator instead of the laser of the Mauser, not to mention liberal use of grenades to thin the larger groups.

"Fucking zombies," one of the lower ranked humans, a Sigma Blackheart, muttered.

"Zombies?" Saren queried curiously.

"Old human literature and vid reference," lead Omega Blackheart explained. "The dead rising from the grave to terrorize the living, usually through some vector such as a virus, technology or more supernatural cause. It was an entire genre in its own right."

"Weird," Saren couldn't conceive that humans had thought of using the idea of the risen dead as a tool of entertainment.

The male Sigma laughed, "Look up 'World War Z' on the extranet. It'll help. "

It was at that point that all the humans stopped dead in their tracks.

The male Omega turned to him, "I'm patching you into our tac net. You'll need it." The voice was grave even through the distortion and he tapped on his omnitool a few times. Saren felt his own omnitool flare into life and he accepted the sync request. He immediately saw another screen pop into his HUD visor as his own VI made sense of the incoming tac data. It was live drone footage and Saren struggled to make sense at first at what he was seeing… at first he thought it was just a new form of geth, but then the thing moved past a building… and he could judge the scale.

"A Geth BattleMech," Saren declared flatfly.

"Guarding the spaceport," the Omega sighed. "I guess it was too much to hope for that they wouldn't have them. They're clearly not as ignorant of what happens in Terminus and Citadel space as much as we thought."

The Mech was as if a Geth Trooper platform had been upscaled to be eleven meters tall, it carried no obvious weapons, but the seams in the blue painted, curved armor around the arms and chest clearly showed that they were behind panels that would pop open before firing.

Saren flared his mandibles, "Tell me you brought a Mech of your own…"

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Commander Helen 'Combo' Huffman gave the cockpit of her _Exterminator_ one last systems check before settling her hands on the controls and _merging_ her senses with the VDN interface. Nothing can really describe it in words, becoming almost _one_ with her Mech in this manner. It was old hat by now, but the feeling of power was something that could not be taken away, unlike the addictive properties of the experience which was thankfully tempered and regulated by cybernetics and a bit of genemodding that all Mech pilots were given.

"_We're dropping your lance in the most tactically advantageous position, Combo. Make it count_," the CAG of _Normandy_ came through directly into her mind.

"Understood."

She was released from the clamps that held her giant _mech-self_ in her cradle, only for another specialized set of them to grab hold before she could move at all, which lifted her slightly. The deck beneath her feet split open and a specific part of the ventral hull of the Normandy opened outward, exposing the surface of Ekuna and the spaceport from ten thousand feet in the air briefly before she was accelerated and shot out the ship with enough velocity that she would reach terminal within seconds. She was not alone, as her three lance mates were shot out with her and guided themselves on their own trajectories.

She saw the Normandy abruptly doing evasive maneuvers as their launch had compromised the ship's stealth, but soon enough it had vanished from even her sensors. With a thought she activated her VoidSig, all but ensuring she wouldn't be intercepted in the air by any of the Geth dropships still active, or that awful looking dreadnought that dominated the landscape.

They were being fed drone data that gave them exact relative positions to the enemy, but it didn't really help the fact that they were literally dropping into the unknown. There were five Geth mechs of unknown capability that her lance was about to give a rude wake up call, or it might be the other way around for all she knew.

She engaged a laser link com with her lancemates, "All right, I want to come down like the wrath of God on 'em. Hotdog and Hardcore, you alpha strike and retreat to cool down, Wraith and I will pick it up from there. Our job is to give the ground team an opening to get to the Prothean device – that's it, you take too much damage you get your ass airborne and out of there."

"Yes, sir," the chorus of acknowledgements came.

"Sir, got any idea what weaponry they'll be packing?" Wraith asked.

"I'd not make any assumptions given they're a freaking machine race. But I think the rule of thumb would be not to get hit at all."

"Understood, sir."

"Coming up on ground level, neg mass at max, flare jets on my mark….mark."

Combo felt her speed rapidly decrease as the ground below loomed closer. She tensed… their position would be profoundly visible now with the thermal blooms of the jets in her legs at max. It was made worse by the fact that this area seemed both ideal for mech combat and horrific. The space between buildings was wonderful and allowed for maximum speed and room for maneuver, but on the reverse the buildings were low and far apart. She could crouch her mech for complete cover though.

Their individual landing spots were right behind such buildings just a kilometer from the spaceport.

The landing thudded through her. The five geth mechs responded instantly.

She was forced to crouch her mech just as quickly as three large blobs of blue energy seared through the air right where her chest would've been.

Hotdog and Hardcore unleashed hell.

Eight medium lasers speared through the air, while twenty missiles, followed by another grouping of laser blasts, and another volley of missiles.

Two of the geth mechs were the target, their armor visibly heated up, and then explosively ablating. The missile volleys encountered an AMS system that Combo felt very jealous – it was laser based and reduced the missile volleys to a measly four of them hitting the barriers of the mechs. Hotdog and Hardcore, their mass systems working overtime, zoomed towards cover with the speed normally reserved for small scout mechs, at least if you were back in the Human Sphere.

She and Wraith raised their mech to bring their arms to bear, and focused their fire on one enemy mech. Eight beams appeared to instantly connect them to the unfortunate geth mech. It ablated away as much armor as it could, but something critical was hit and it exploded violently, the chassis falling over and crunching under the high gravity as its compensation systems failed.

But the geth proved their status as a networked intelligence when the four remaining machines all aimed their left arms at Wraith's position. Three of those massive dark energy pulses shot into the building and reduced it to rubble explosively as something inside lit off. The blast and concussion was enough to nearly knock over Wraith, and it was only some fancy footwork from brief flares of his jets that let him remain so.

The fourth geth sent a pulse cannon shot right through the dust cloud that would've neatly obscured anyone using the normal visual spectrum to see in. The blast hit Wraith's shields and Combo was aghast at the effects her sensors and the self-diagnostic Wraith's mech were broadcasting. The shot had all but collapsed the shield instantly and some sort of residual effect washed over it that was warping the armor. The geth followed up with three conventional mass accelerator cannon strikes and just like that Wraith was gone. He didn't even have time to shout or eject.

'Focus fire, time on target."

The three Covenant mechs sprinted out of cover, even employing their jets to jump and twist in the air. Twelve lasers speared into the geth mech that had been responsible for Wraith's death. Its armor withstood the energy astonishingly well, and in the time stalling effect of ocular implants Combo could clearly see how the lasers were being obstructed by the ablative armoring seemingly splintering into hazy clouds. It was purposefully designed that way. It made her realize she never wanted to tango with a geth mech one on one. It died explosively under the combined firepower.

She landed from her maneuver and with a thought locked on and targeted another enemy mech with LRM. Her lancemates did the same and thirty missiles streaked into the air in twisting spiraling motions. The three remaining geth's Gardian AMS worked hard to stop them all, but the missiles were concentrated on a single enemy mech and twelve impacted on the barriers.

The missiles contained quarian designed disruptor warheads that twisted and sheared space-time and all but reduced the barriers to ineffectual for when the next fired salvo came spearing in – reducing the mech to scrap that crushed itself onto the landscape.

The two remaining geth mechs aimed their pulse cannons at Combo next. She didn't know how they had singled her out as the leader of the lance (nothing hinted at it on her mech visually) or if it was just bad luck. The first shot nailed her shield and immediately warnings flared in her augmented reality vision that her barriers were done and not coming back up any time soon enough to matter. The second shot clipped her on her mech's right arm, as she torso twisted in reflex to take the shot on her arm instead of in the chest armor.

The armor there buckled and twisted, even the internal structure, and the power feeds to the lasers in the arm severed. She gritted her teeth from deep within the buried torso cockpit of the mech. Thankfully, pain was never translated through the VDN interface, otherwise she would've been screaming in agony on the floor.

She brought her lower legs around and raised her left arm and fired the two remaining lasers, quickly following it up with a missile salvo. Hardcore and Hotdog jumped into their Exterminators into flanking positions and fired lasers and missiles as quickly as they dared, not wanting to risk overheats.

Their duel left her alone facing the bastard that had ruined her arm. It had weathered her laser strikes and was charging up that pulse cannon again. She crouched behind a building and dumped all the heat she could by venting up coolant from her feet into the ground and engaged voidsig fully.

Then jumped out from behind cover and pushed off into a full speed run.

The pulse cannon's aim was suitably thrown off by the heat bloom and it blasted itself in the ground behind her. She retaliated with everything. Firing her two lasers again and again, missiles streaking out from her launchers.

The darn geth armor was a pain in the ass. The more you destroyed it the more of it would fragment and disperse into near dust like particles that was ruining the beam attenuation of subsequent laser strikes. Her missiles were running her target into high heat levels though, given that it had to keep its laser AMS running or suffer complete barrier failure, and despite the fiendish excellent accuracy it had. Her missiles were make it through… first two, then four, then six.

She only stopped firing when her own heat had reached ninety percent and charged for the nearest building to cover behind.

An explosion heralded the death of the other geth mech, and Combo saw that only Hotdog had sustained moderate damage doing so.

The pulse cannon of her own enemy was bright with heat and blue energy, and its conventional mass accelerator was blazing shots at her cover.

The shot hit and sent debris crashing into her. She was so relatively light due to her mass compensators that it sent her awkwardly stumbling out of cover. The geth's MACs shot out, chewing into her armor and it was only a relatively lightning quick action to normalize her own mass relative that prevented her from falling from the impact of the round. Thankfully her ferro fibrous armor ablated and held nicely. She retaliated with lasers, thankfully the high grav meant that the laser dispersion clouds fell off quickly, and her beams bit deeply into the section of armor.

The geth mech was suddenly catapulted forwards from an explosion that occurred on its back. It detonated and pieces of it crashed to the ground.

"What the…"

She zoomed in and saw… the Blackhearts and a single turian in cover behind a building.

"Scratch one mech, Combo."

"Thanks, Shep. Always useful to have the infantry along."

"From a mech jock I take that as high praise. Thanks for clearing us a path. Now get out of here."

"Roger that, sir."

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Ethan Shepard watched as the three _Exterminator_ mechs flared their jets and took off into the sky. It never ceased to amaze him how something as blocky as a mech managed to fly these days. It was all done with a combination of maneuvering thrusters, jets powered by the fusion reactor in the legs, mass effect, and barriers that were configured in flight to act as aerodynamic wing surfaces.

"Nice throw," Saren commented. "Never seen a sticky demo pack, I'll have to remember that one."

"Basic anti-mech tactics, though I couldn't have thrown it that far without the suit."

"Are there any more nukes around here, you think?" Donny asked grimly. They had already fought their way through four squads of geth that had been guarding each nuke. Clearly the geth wanted to leave nothing standing behind them.

"_None that I can detect,"_ Normandy's intel officer piped up. The team started their advance into the spaceport proper. It was filled with containers, machinery and yet more geth platforms. That they slowly began to wade through with laser and kinetic fire.

"_Be advised, I've got a drone with eyes on the prize. There's a… what?"_

Ethan lasered a geth rocket trooper through its optical sensor before it fire and ducked behind cover, "What is it?"

"_I'm seeing a humanoid figure in an odd high spec hard suit, clearly organic, standing in front of the Prothean device. It's activating with some sort of energy field… I dunno, you guys better get over there now!"_

Ethan shook his head, "We're going as fast as we can!"

They advanced and Ethan was impressed with how easily Saren seemed to mold into the teamwork. It was then that he saw that the geth were in fact retreating at this point as fast as their bipedal locomotion could take them and offering no resistance. They were wary of being led into a trap so kept their advance in a leaping cover method.

At last they turned a corner to some stairs that led down to a large loading platform for VTOL craft and there it was.

The Prothean device stood tall and proud, seemingly radiating mystery and power just by its design and the eerie energies swirling and dancing up its tall, two and half meter structure. He was so entranced by it that he almost didn't spot the fifth nuclear demolition device nestled right next to it.

"Move!"

His sister raced for it with all the speed she could muster, engaging her omnitool and began to try to defuse it.

Then a scream rent through the air. It was one that seemed to vibrate through his bones and somehow in his head as well. Only the Power Armor held him to a vertical base. Saren was on his knees with hands trying to shield his own hearing. The awful sound stopped and Ethan turned to regard the monster dreadnaught as it moved. The giant tentacle arms contracting closed and the thing took skyward with a terrible grace that belied the fact that it was two kilometers long and a couple million tons of ship.

It soon became smaller and vanished into the sky, with all the geth dropships following in its wake.

He shook his head to gain some equilibrium and saw that Katherine was thankfully still working on the nuke. She had disarmed the previous four relatively easily. None of them dared speak to interrupt her concentration as her right hand tapped with a frantic confidence on the holographic panel of her omnitool over her left gauntlet.

He didn't even walk over to see how much time was left. He at least contented himself with the fact that if that nuke went off, he wouldn't feel a thing.

She worked for three minutes that felt like his ocular processers had been left on – feeling like it was more than three hours.

"Clear!" she declared at last taking a step back from the nuke.

Ethan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

That was when the Prothean device decided to light up like a Christmas tree. He saw Kath's entire form seize up and her feet started to leave the floor. He charged without thinking.

The impact knocked her out of the device's hold, but Ethan had had to lower his relative mass to get the speed needed, making it easy for him in turn to be grabbed by the effector in Prothean device.

He felt himself be hovered into the air and turned to face the device…

…_the world was washed out in bright white light…_

_...he thought he saw, shapes, sounds, screams, worlds afire…_

…_then nothing…_

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**Codex: **

**BattleMechs of the Galaxy**

**Exterminator EXT-25**

Mass: 65 tons (Relative)

Tech Base: Mixed

Chassis Config: Biped

Rules Level: Experimental Tech

Era: Star Covenant

Tech Rating/Era Availability: X/X-X-X

Production Year: 2825

Cost: 22,178,310 C-Bills

Battle Value: 1,957

Chassis: SC Special IV Endo-Steel

Power Plant: Magna 390 Fusion XL Engine

Walking Speed: 64.8 km/h

Maximum Speed: 97.2 km/h

Jump Jets: Chevron III

Armor: Fibrolyte Armorscale II Ferro-Fibrous

Armament:

1 (SC) LRM-10

4 (SC) Medium Lasers

1 Guardian ECM Suite

1 (CL) Anti-Missile System

1 DE CounterMass Suite

Manufacturer: Carter Aerospace and Ground Dynamics

Primary Factory: Sigurd's Cradle

Communications System: AR 14 Laser Direct Beacon

Targeting and Tracking System: VI - Q System

Overview:

The Exterminator-25 is a Mech that was designed for use in Assymetrical warfare

with the lessons learned from the Batarian War. It is also the latest evolution

of technologies and schools of thought regarding Mech warfare in the greater

galaxy.

Capabilities:

The first notable capability of the Exterminator is the unifying of concept

between the Chameleon Light Polarization Shield and Null Signature System, into

what is known as Void Signature. It prevents the Mech from radiating a

significant heat signature as well as cloaking it from view in the optical

visible spectrum, making it all but invisible. Infantry can hear the mech and

will be able report its footfalls, so the mech is still vulnerable to seismic

sensing.

The mech also features a dynamic myomer layout and compact gyro, which allow it

to imitate the movement of the organic pilot in conjuction with the Virtual

Dynamic Pilot Interface. This gives the Exterminator the ability to crouch and

even go full prone with the aid of the VI governed mass compensators dailing

its inherent mass up and down. Though pilots never do the latter in combat as

the time to 'get up' safely leaves the mech very vulnerable. Though it does

allow fallen mechs to right themselves without the need of a salvage repair

vehicle.

The Exterminator can now also fly with the aid of its fusion powered jets as

manueverable as any ASF. It's Barriers reconfigure into mimicking the

aerodynamic and control surfaces of a traditional ASF, giving it an indefinite

range in atmosphere. The mech does not need dropship support to leave a

planet's gravity well either, and can rendezvous with orbiting ships. In

addition, with attached drop tanks on the back, the Exterminator could even do

FTL jumps to rejoin with its carrier outside a hostile solar system.

The cockpit location is also a departure from the norm, now moved to the torso.

Given the VI smart munitions in use all over the galaxy, it is easy for any

infantryman or tanker to target the relatively lightly armored 'head' of a

BattleMech. Therefore to stop the Exterminator would require a critical hit or

complete destruction.

With all this versatility the weapons are forced to be rather basic in layout

but practical. An LRM10 launcher firing Disruptor warheads that would fire

first to strip an opponent of its shields, before the four lasers would do the

job of killing the enemy. Ballistic AMS defends it against missiles and

infantry.

Deployment:

Given the sensitive technologies involved in its construction, the Exterminator

is only assigned to the most elite of Covenant Mechwarriors and operates behind

enemy lines. They mostly undertake missions to support the elite Covenant

Blackheart operatives and there are some Blackhearts who specialize in piloting

the Exterminator.


End file.
